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A^mls  of  Wyommg 


LUME  29 


APRIL  1957 


NUMBER  1 


Official  Publication 

of  the 

WYOMING  STATE  fflSTORICAL  SOCIETY 


Published  Biannually 
\  by 

HE  WYOMING  STATE  ARCHIVES  AND  HISTORICAL  DEPARTMENT 

CHEYENNE,  WYOMING 


WYOMING  STATE  LIBRARY  ARCHIVES  AND 
HISTORICAL  BOARD 

Fred  W.  Marble,  Chairman Cheyenne 

Mr.  James  Bentley JSheridan 

Mr.  Henry  Jones  Hanna 

Mrs.  Lora  Jewett Pinedale 

Mrs.  Esther  Mockler Dubois 

Mrs.  Leora  Peters  Wheatland 

Mrs.  Margaret  E.  Hall  Moorcrojt 

Mrs.  Lorraine  Stadius Thermopolis 

Attorney-General  George  F.  Guy,  Ex-officio 

WYOMING  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

President,  Dr.  DeWitt  Dominick Cody 

First  Vice  President,  Dr.  T.  A.  Larson Laramie 

Second  Vice  President,  Mr.  A.  H.  MacDougall Rawlins 

Secretary-Treasurer,  Miss  Maurine  Carley Cheyenne 

Executive  Secretary,  Miss  Lola  M.  Homsher Cheyenne 

Wyoming  State  Historical  Society  life  membership  $50.00,  joint  life 

membership  (husband  and  wife)   $75.00;  annual  membership,  $3.50, 

joint  annual  membership   (two  persons  of  same  family  at  same 

address)  $5.00. 

THE  WYOMING  STATE  ARCHIVES  AND  HISTORICAL 
DEPARTMENT 
STATE  OFFICE  BUILDING  —  CHEYENNE 
STAFF 

Lola  M.  Homsher Director 

Henryetta  Berry  Deputy 

Reta  W.  Ridings Head,  Research  Services 

Mrs.  Lillian  V.  Stratton Secretary 

ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Lola  M.  Homsher Editor 

Reta  W.  Ridings Co-editor 

The  Annals  of  Wyoming  is  published  semi-annually,  in  April  and 
October,  and  is  the  official  publication  of  the  Wyoming  State  Historical 
Society.  It  is  received  by  all  members  of  that  Society  as  a  part  of  their 
dues.  Individual  copies  of  the  current  issues  of  the  Annals  of  Wyoming 
may  be  purchased  for  $1.00  each.  Available  copies  of  earlier  issues  are 
also  for  sale.    A  price  list  may  be  obtained  by  writing  to  the  Editor. 

Communications  should  be  addressed  to  the  Editor.  The  Editor  will 
not  assume  responsibility  for  statements  of  fact  or  of  opinion  made  by 
contributors. 

o 

Copyright,  1957,  by  the  Wyoming  State  Archives  and  Historical 
Department. 


i/imals  of  Wyoming 


Volume  29  April  1957  Number  1 


Zable  of  Contents 


WHEATLAND'S  FIRST  CHURCH  3 

Virginia  Cole  Trenholm 

THE  OLD  CHURCH,  a  poem 32 

Helen  Cook 

PORTRAIT  OF  AN  "ORDINARY"  WOMAN  Eliza  Stewart  Boyd  33 

Clarice  Whittenburg 

BEDFORD  AND  ITS  NAMESAKES  _.._ 38 

Kenneth  E.  Crouch 

THE  HOLE-IN-THE-WALL,  Part  IV  41 

Thelma  Gatchell  Condit 

OREGON  TRAIL  TREK  NO.  FOUR  67 

Compiled  by  Maurine  Carley 

WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI,  Part  VIII  86 

Dale  L.  Morgan,  editor 

WYOMING  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  103 

DeWitt  Dominick..  President 

WYOMING  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  NOTES  107 

L.  C.  Steege 

BOOK  REVIEWS 

Vaughn,  With  Crook  at  the  Rosebud  1 1 1 

Stone,  Men  to  Match  My  Mountains 112 

Billington,  The  Far  Western  Frontier  1830-1860  113 

Brown  and  Felton,  Before  Barbed  Wire  114 

Woodward,  Feud  on  the  Colorado  115 

Frink,  Jackson,  Spring,  When  Grass  Was  King  116 

Roberts,  Salt  Creek,  The  Story  of  a  Great  Oil  Field  117 

Fish,  The  Running  Iron 119 

CONTRIBUTORS    _ 120 

ERRATA 110 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Wheatland's  First  Church  2,  7,  12,  18,  30 

Bedford  and  Its  Namesakes  38 

The  Hole-In-The-Wall 42,  45,  52,  58 

Stone  Artifacts   108 

Maps:  Middle  Fork  of  the  Powder  River  64 

Oregon  Trail  Trek  No.  Four  66 


"  *  T^  -^are-SB"** 


Wheatland's  first  church,  the  Union  Congregational,  and  parsonage 


Rev.  and  Mrs.  A.  A.  Brown,  Sr.  (seated),  Rev.  and  Mrs.  J.  M.  Brown  and 
son  Herbert  (standing) 


Wheatland's  Tirst  Ckurek 

By 

Virginia  Cole  Trenholm 

FOREWORD 

Memories  were  kindled  and  untold  tales  of  the  past  were 
recounted  while  a  committee  of  senior  members  of  the  Union 
Congregational  Church  compiled  its  history.  Many  events  of  con- 
sequence were  never  recorded.  Others  have  been  forgotten,  and 
yet  letters  and  reminiscences  have  supplemented  the  fragmentary 
records  until  it  has  been  possible  to  preserve  a  chronological  story 
of  the  church,  of  its  people  and  of  its  influence  in  the  community. 

Fortunately,  one  of  the  church  members,  J.  H.  Whitmore,  post- 
master at  Wheatland,  not  only  realized  that  a  permanent  record 
should  be  written,  but  he  also  insisted  that  this  be  done  while 
there  are  those  still  living  who  can  fill  in  the  missing  links  in  the 
chain  of  progress. 

Jennetta  Niner  Drummond,  now  in  her  eighties  and  the  only 
living  charter  member,  has  been  able  to  supply  us  with  valuable 
records,  including  an  account  of  the  dedication  of  the  church, 
July  7,  1895.  The  Wheatland  World  carrying  the  news  of  this 
event  is  among  those  missing  in  the  library  files,  and  the  only 
mention  of  it  in  the  church  records  is  in  a  letter  to  several  churches 
and  ministers  requesting  their  presence  at  the  dedicatory  and 
ordination  services. 

Hazelle  Ferguson,  who  has  corresponded  with  many  of  the 
early  day  members  in  an  effort  to  collect  information  vital  to  the 
church  history,  found  a  reprint  of  the  dedicatory  service  from  the 
Wheatland  World  in  a  leaflet,  "In  Memoriam,"  published  at  the 
death  of  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Brown  in  1905.  This  was  sent  to  her  by 
Mrs.  Drummond,  who  has  preserved  it  all  of  these  years.  The 
only  other  known  copy  was  found  among  the  cherished  souvenirs 
of  another  charter  member,  Mrs.  Drummond's  mother,  Mrs.  F.  L. 
Niner,  who  died  in  March  1956  at  the  age  of  100  years  and  10 
months. 

Besides  Mrs.  Ferguson,  those  serving  on  Mr.  Whitmore's  com- 
mittee have  been  Louise  Natwick,  furnishing  an  excellent  history 
of  the  choir;  Irma  Hester,  Dorcas;  Claudine  Artist  and  Bertha 
Kenty,  Ladies'  Aid;  Mrs,  Artist,  Missionary  Society;  Ina  Franzen, 
Dorothy  Blow  and  Mrs.  Natwick,  Sunday  School;  Mrs.  Del  Lan- 
don,  Dorkettes;  Rev.  Alan  Inglis,  Pilgrim  Fellowship;  and  Mr. 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


Whitmore,  Men's  Club.  It  has  been  my  privilege  to  work  with 
this  group  in  writing  the  church  story  and  in  coordinating  the 
accounts  of  the  various  branches  for  a  complete  church  record. 

V.C.T. 


Though  the  First  Congregational  Church  was  never  the  official 
name  of  the  Union  Congregational  Church,  this  title  has  crept  into 
the  records,  perhaps  for  the  reason  that  it  was  the  first  church  in 
the  new  and  promising  community  of  Wheatland,  Wyo.  Its  story 
is  the  story  of  the  pioneers  in  a  unique  farming  settlement,  the 
first  large  scale  irrigation  project  in  the  state. 

The  long  list  of  firsts  which  could  be  claimed  by  the  church 
and  its  charter  members  begins  with  Esther  and  Caldwell  Morri- 
son, the  first  settlers  on  the  Wheatland  Flats  in  1885.  Their  son, 
Milton,  was  the  first  child  born  here.  Mrs.  Morrison  also  had 
the  distinction  of  being  the  first  baker  and  volunteer  fireman  in 
the  community.  Her  bakery  was  in  a  three-room  shack,  where 
on  a  small  cookstove,  she  baked  forty  loaves  a  day  for  the  men 
working  for  the  Wyoming  Development  Company. 

She  is  said  to  have  saved  Wheatland's  one  room  school  house 
from  destruction  by  fire  in  1890.  Since  she  was  a  small  woman, 
scarcely  more  than  five  feet  tall,  a  Mrs.  Lambert,  another  early 
settler,  had  no  difficulty  boosting  her  onto  the  roof  from  her  shoul- 
der. The  fire  had  started  near  the  chimney.  With  Mrs.  Lambert 
handing  her  buckets  of  water,  she  soon  extinguished  the  blaze, 
which  did  little  damage  to  the  building. 

Another  charter  member,  the  first  church  Clerk  and  Treasurer, 
was  F.  L.  Niner,  who  owned  the  first  general  mercantile  store  in 
Wheatland,  located  in  a  small  frame  building  on  the  lot  where 
the  Golden  Rule  Store  now  stands.  Mr.  Niner's  store  and  several 
residences  were  moved  into  town  from  their  first  location,  about 
where  the  railroad  crosses  No.  2  ditch,  where  the  inhabitants 
thought  the  town  would  be  located. 

In  1893,  there  was  but  one  structure  of  consequence  on  the 
present  town  site,  the  Wyoming  Development  Company  building, 
which  served  as  office,  hotel  and  boarding  house  as  well  as  the 
home  of  M.  R.  Johnston,  superintendent.  It  was  later  moved 
back  to  make  room  for  the  Pioneer  Pharmacy.  A  small  bunk 
house,  still  standing  on  its  original  location  just  north  of  the  drug 
store,  was  occupied  by  the  workmen.  A  tar  paper  shack,  across 
the  street  south  of  the  present  post  office,  housed  the  first  residents 
of  the  town,  the  R.  D.  Robinson  family,  1886-1887.  Mr.  Robin- 
son helped  construct  the  Development  Company  building. 

By  the  end  of  the  year  1894,  Wheatland  boasted  of  two  general 
stores  (Niner's  and  the  Wheatland  Mercantile,  managed  by  L  W. 


WHEATLAND'S  FIRST  CHURCH  5 

Gray);  a  depot;  a  drug  store  (the  Pioneer  Pharmacy),  operated 
by  H.  Tisch  and  Sons;  a  lumber  yard  (McCallum  and  Grain) 
furnishing  building  material  and  coal;  two  blacksmith  shops  (one 
operated  by  John  Jesse  and  the  other  by  F.  L.  Belcher);  a  barber 
shop  (Milo  Renfro,  barber);  a  brickyard,  operated  by  G.  W. 
Goodrich;  a  new  hotel;  a  newspaper  (The  Wheatland  World, 
owned,  published  and  edited  by  I.  O.  Middaugh);  a  school  house; 
and  a  doctor  (D.  B.  Rigdon)  for  the  medical  needs,  but  no  church 
for  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  community. 

Whether  farming  or  in  business,  the  hardy  pioneers  realized  the 
importance  of  a  church  to  their  community  life.  So  on  March  3, 
1895  a  group  of  devout  Ghristians  "entered  into  covenant"  with 
the  Union  Gongregational  Ghurch  at  their  meeting  at  the  school 
house. 

The  nine  charter  members  who  formed  the  pillars  of  the  church 
were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  F.  Hurdle,  Lula  King,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gald- 
well  Morrison,  Fanny  Kerns,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  L.  Niner  and  their 
daughter  Jennetta,  better  known  as  Jennie.  Mr.  Hurdle  was  elect- 
ed Deacon  and  Mr.  Niner,  Glerk  and  Treasurer,  to  serve  until  the 
first  annual  meeting. 

The  Niners  and  the  D.  McGallums,  who  were  among  the  first 
to  join  the  church,  had  taken  an  active  interest  in  a  Methodist 
Society,  formed  in  Wheatland  a  year  before.  The  meetings  of  the 
society,  held  the  third  Sunday  of  each  month,  were  conducted  by  a 
Gheyenne  minister. 

The  Gongregationalists  settled  two  important  details  at  their 
first  meeting,  namely,  to  call  Mr.  J.  M.  Brown  (March  10,  1895 — 
Nov.  24,  1897)  at  an  annual  salary  of  $700.  In  the  event  of  his 
acceptance,  the  Trustees  (not  named)  and  the  Deacon  were  in- 
structed to  apply  to  the  Gongregational  Missionary  Society  for  a 
grant  of  $500  to  "assist  in  his  support." 

The  F.  L.  Niners  lived  in  the  little  house  (later  known  as  the 
Arnold  house),  which  is  at  present  the  office  unit  of  the  Wheat- 
land General  Hospital.  Their  daughter,  Jennie,  who  was  only 
eighteen  when  the  church  was  built,  still  recalls  running  down  the 
alley  to  services.  She  gave  unselfishly  of  her  time  and  talent, 
and  the  church  profited  by  her  youthful  devotion. 

The  memoirs  of  Jennetta  Niner  Drummond,  of  Englewood,  not 
only  include  an  account  of  the  dedicatory  service  and  record  of 
the  first  choir,  but  also  the  original  minutes  of  the  first  Sunday 
School,  which  Mr.  Drummond  carried  in  his  Bible  many  years. 

Quoting  from  one  of  her  most  interesting  letters,  "I  can  remem- 
ber that  I  was  kept  busy  at  the  httle  old  parlor  organ  ( at  the  dedi- 
catory service)  and  from  then  on  until  we  moved  away  in  the 
winter  of  1897,  I  was  organist  and  most  of  the  time  the  choir.  On 
special  occasions  we  were  able  to  get  together  a  quartet  of  singers." 

She  might  have  added  that  she  served  her  church  in  many 


6  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

capacities.  Besides  being  organist,  choir  leader  and  chairman  of 
the  music  committee,  she  served  the  Sunday  School  as  Secretary 
and  Treasurer.  Her  name  was  the  first  to  appear  on  the  list  of 
delegates  chosen  to  represent  Wheatland  at  the  Association  meet- 
ing in  1896.  Her  "boy  friend,"  U.  G.  Drummond,  soon  joined 
the  church  and  became  an  ardent  worker.  He  succeeded  her  as 
Secretary  of  the  Sunday  School,  served  on  her  music  committee, 
and  was  clerk  of  the  church  the  year  they  moved  away.  He  had 
a  good  tenor  voice,  and  he  and  Jennie  frequently  sang  duets. 
Theirs  was  the  first  choir  romance.  They  were  united  in  marriage 
at  the  Niner  home  by  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Brown,  whose  memory  she 
holds  dear. 

Rev.  Brown,  who  had  been  in  charge  of  the  Cheyenne  South 
Side  Missions,  serving  employees  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railway, 
received  his  training  at  Dakota  University.  He  preached  his  first 
sermon  in  Wheatland  March  10,  1895.  Though  little  is  known  of 
his  father,  the  Rev.  A.  A.  Brown,  it  is  apparent  that  he  had  a  great 
deal  to  do  with  the  founding  of  Wheatland's  first  church.  As 
superintendent  of  home  missions  at  Cheyenne  at  the  time,  he 
visited  Wheatland  frequently  and  took  part  in  church  affairs. 
Quoting  from  the  World  (March  29),  "The  residence  which  Rev. 
Brown  has  been  having  built  is  now  completed  and  his  son.  Rev. 
J.  M.  Brown,  of  Cheyenne,  is  expected  here  with  his  family  this 
week  to  take  the  pastorate  of  the  Congregational  organization." 

Even  before  the  young  minister  and  his  family  were  settled  in 
their  new  home,  the  charter  members  ( March  25 )  voted  to  build 
a  church.  They  also  voted  to  ask  a  grant  of  $700  from  C.C.B.S. 
(the  Congregational  Church  Building  Society),  to  be  secured  by 
a  mortgage  on  the  church  property,  and  to  take  annual  collections 
for  the  society. 

The  first  record  of  a  resident  minister  in  Wheatland  is  found  in 
the  World  (April  5).  "Rev.  J.  M.  Brown  and  family  arrived 
Tuesday  from  Cheyenne  and  are  now  cozily  located  in  their  new 
residence  on  the  west  edge  of  town.  Rev.  Brown  is  here  to  accept 
the  pastorate  of  the  Congregational  Church  to  which  he  has  been 
called.  The  World  wishes  him  a  pleasant  and  profitable  field  for 
his  labors." 

On  April  1 1 ,  an  energetic  building  committee  was  appointed, 
consisting  of  Rev.  J.  M.  Brown,  F.  G.  Niner  and  D.  McCallum. 
They  wasted  no  time,  for  according  to  the  World,  April  12,  "Con- 
tractor McCallum  commenced  work  yesterday  morning  on  the 
new  Congregational  Church,  the  society  having  decided  to  build  it. 
The  building  will  be  sufficient  size  to  fully  meet  the  necessities  of 
the  present  and  will  be  so  built  that  it  can  be  remodeled  and 
enlarged  at  any  time  in  the  future,  should  additional  room  be 
required." 

The  first  members  to  be  taken  into  the  church  were  Rev.  and 
Mrs.  J.  M.  Brown  (by  letter),  and  Samuel  R.  and  Josie  Yeagar. 


WHEATLAND'S  FIRST  CHURCH 


Jennie  Niner  (Drummond)   and  U.  G.  Drummond  at  the  time  the  church 

was  organized. 


The  official  name,  Union  Congregational  Church,  appears  in  the 
paper  the  first  time  (April  26)  with  the  announcement  that  the 
church  will  hold  services  in  the  school  house  next  Sunday  morning 
at  11  o'clock.  "Subject:  The  Great  Temptation.'  Evening  ser- 
vice at  7:30.  Sub'ect:  'The  Phantom  Ship.'  A  cordial  invitation 
is  extended  to  all." 

The  first  mention  of  the  Ladies'  Aid  Society  appears  in  the 
World  (April  26)  with  this  announcement:  "The  Ladies'  Aid  will 
give  a  crazy  social  at  the  Wheatland  School  house  Wednesday  eve, 
the  15th.  A  good  supper  will  be  served  for  25  cents  and  a  nice 
time  is  being  planned  by  the  ladies  who  are  getting  it  up.  Every- 
body is  invited  to  come  and  have  a  good  time."  Living  in  this 
inflationary  age,  we  have  difficulty  trying  to  imagine  having  a 
good  time  on  25  cents. 

In  the  month  of  May,  plans  were  made  for  building  Wheatland's 
second  church,  the  Methodist  Episcopal.  The  cornerstone  was 
laid  in  August  and  the  church  was  dedicated  the  first  day  of 
December. 

While  the  Congregational  Church  building  was  under  construc- 
tion, five  new  members  were  added  to  the  church  roll:  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  D.  McCallum,  William  W.  Pitman  and  Margaret  E.  and  Mary 
Hines.  A  fund  raising,  midweek  social  was  held  which,  according 
to  the  World  (May  17),  "was  well  attended,  a  number  being 
present  from  the  country  as  well  as  nearly  all  of  the  town  people. 
Receipts  were  over  $19." 

The  local  paper  reports  the  progress  of  the  building  (May  24). 
"Contractor  McCallum  has  a  force  of  men  employed  this  week 
on  the  new  Congregational  Church,  and  the  work  of  erection  has 


8  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

been  pushed  very  rapidly.  The  building  will  be  24x50.  .  .  .  One 
hundred  opera  chairs  have  been  ordered  with  which  to  furnish 
the  new  edifice.  The  windows  will  be  stained  glass  and  the  inside 
of  the  building  will  be  nicely  decorated." 

On  June  7,  mention  is  made  of  the  Sunday  School's  Children's 
Day  program  to  take  the  place  of  the  Sunday  morning  service. 
Rev.  J.  M.  Brown  will  have  for  the  subject  of  his  evening's  dis- 
course, "The  Struggle  for  Life."  No  doubt  Mr.  Brown  had  reason 
for  choosing  this  subject,  for  ill  health  forced  him  to  leave  Wheat- 
land. From  here  he  went  to  Washington,  where  the  wet  weather 
proved  injurious,  forcing  him  to  return  to  the  Black  Hills  in  April 
1898.  Recovering  a  measure  of  health,  he  held  pastorates  in 
South  Dakota,  Wisconsin  and  Nebraska. 

An  editorial  in  the  Butte  (Nebr.)  Gazette,  Sept.  22,  1905,  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  states  in  part:  "Mr.  Brown  was  a  good 
preacher,  a  fast  friend  and  in  love  with  his  work;  a  man  who 
towered  above  us  in  intellect  and  spirituality;  broad-minded,  highly 
educated  and,  although  physically  weak,  a  mental  giant." 

The  Constitution  and  By-laws  of  the  church  were  adopted  at  a 
meeting  June  13.  At  the  same  time,  more  officers  were  elected  to 
serve  until  the  first  annual  meeting.  They  were:  Deaconesses, 
Mrs.  D.  McCallum  and  Mrs.  J.  M.  Brown;  Sunday  School  Super- 
intendent, Mr.  Hurdle;  Vice  Superintendent,  Mrs.  J.  M.  Brown. 
For  the  Sunday  School:  Treasurer,  John  McCallum;  Secretary, 
Miss  Jennie  Niner;  Organist,  Miss  Dotty  Jesse. 

On  June  14,  the  church  Clerk  wrote  a  letter  to  the  following 
churches:  Cheyenne  1st,  Cheyenne  South,  Douglas,  Lusk,  Man- 
ville,  Crawford  (Nebr.),  Hot  Springs  (S.D.),  Big  Horn  and  to  the 
Revs.  A.  T.  Lyman  and  A.  A.  Brown,  inviting  them  to  an 
ecclesiastical  council,  to  be  held  the  6th  day  of  July  at  2  P.  M., 
and  asking  their  assistance  in  the  dedicatory  and  ordination  ser- 
vices to  be  held  the  following  day. 

Oddly  enough,  nothing  further  appears  in  the  church  records 
until  July  1 8,  and  no  account  is  given  of  the  council  or  the  dedi- 
catory service,  one  of  the  most  important  steps  in  the  church's 
history. 

Mention  is  made  of  plans  for  this  service  in  the  World  (June 
21).  "The  Union  Congregational  Church  will  dedicate  their  new 
building  on  Sunday,  July  7.  The  morning  service  will  be  deUvered 
by  Rev.  E.  E.  Smiley'  of  the  First  Congregational  Church  of  Chey- 
enne, the  evening  sermon  by  Rev.  A.  A.  Brown  of  Hot  Springs, 
S.  D."  No  copies  of  the  Wheatland  World  can  be  found  for  June 
28  through  August  2. 


1.  Rev.  Elmer  E.  Smiley,  a  New  Yorker,  became  the  fourth  president  of 
the  University  of  Wyoming,  July  1,  1898,  serving  until  August  31,  1903. 


WHEATLAND'S   FIRST  CHURCH  9 

The  dedication,  the  first  milestone  in  the  history  of  the  church, 
is  so  important  that  we  quote  in  full  as  it  appears  in  the  leaflet 
honoring  the  first  minister. 

DEDICATION  AND  ORDINATION 

A  more  beautiful  morning  than  last  Sunday  could  not  have  been 
wished  for  the  dedication  of  the  new  Congregational  Church.  The 
sun  shone  brightly,  but  not  too  intensely  for  comfort,  and  everyone 
felt  that  it  was  a  most  favorable  omen  for  the  future  prosperity  of  the 
new  church. 

The  church  is  of  ample  proportions  and  beautifully  finished  inside 
and  out.  The  auditorium  is  seated  with  opera  chairs,  which  add  very 
much  to  the  comfort  of  the  audience,  and  matting  covers  the  aisle. 
A  neat  carpet  covers  the  rostrum,  and  the  organ  and  pulpit  furniture 
are  of  light  wood,  which  with  the  oiled  woodwork  of  the  inside  of  the 
building,  gives  a  very  bright  and  cool  effect.  Several  stained  glass 
windows  let  in  an  abundance  of  light  by  day,  and  large  brass  lamps 
permit  of  the  building  being  brilliantly  lighted  at  night.  On  this 
occasion  the  church  was  tastefully  adorned  by  vases  of  cut  flowers 
and  potted  plants,  and  everyone  pronounced  it  perfect  in  all  of  its 
appointments. 

A  large  audience  gathered  to  witness  the  dedicatory  services,  many 
being  present  from  neighboring  towns.  Ushers  met  the  people  at  the 
door  and  handed  them  neat  printed  programs,  containing  the  order 
of  exercises  for  both  morning  and  evening  services.  A  double  quar- 
tette, composed  of  Mesdames  Drummond,  Tisch,  Slafter,  Miss  Jesse, 
and  Messrs.  Slafter,  Pittman,  Goyne  Drummond,  and  U.  G.  Drum- 
mond, led  the  singing  and  rendered  several  anthems  appropriate  to 
the  occasion  in  a  very  pleasing  manner.  The  dedicatory  sermon  by 
Rev.  E.  E.  Smiley,  of  Cheyenne,  was  a  very  able  one  and  highly 
enjoyed  by  all. 

Although  the  weather  became  very  unpleasant  by  night,  a  large 
audience  again  assembled  to  witness  the  ordination  of  the  pastor  of 
the  new  church,  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Brown.  He  had  passed  the  examina- 
tion before  the  council  of  ordination  on  Saturday  and  now  it  remained 
only  to  publicly  proclaim  him  a  minister  of  the  gospel.  The  double 
quartet  sang  as  in  the  morning,  assisted  in  the  hymns  by  the  congre- 
gation. Rev.  A.  A.  Brown,  father  of  the  young  pastor,  preached  the 
ordination  sermon. 

After  a  very  impressive  prayer  by  Rev.  John  Jeffries,  Rev.  Smiley 
spoke  a  few  words  of  counsel  to  the  pastor  that  were  full  of  wisdom 
and  helpfulness.  Rev.  A.  T.  Lyman  then  spoke  to  the  people,  urging 
them  to  give  their  pastor  all  the  support  and  encouragement  they  can, 
and  in  so  doing  they  will  not  only  help  him,  but  will  enable  him  to 
do  more  for  them.  A  hymn  was  then  sung  by  the  choir  and  congre- 
gation, after  which  Rev.  J.  M.  Brown  pronounced  the  benediction. 

I.  O.  Middaugh  filled  his  paper  with  state,  national  and  world 
happenings,  with  only  a  column  or  so  reserved  for  local  news 
which  he  handled  like  personals.  No  matter  the  nature  of  the 
news,  it  does  not  rate  a  heading.  Some  of  the  items  tell  about 
the  latest  cattle  shipments,  a  farmer  who  has  brought  new  machin- 
ery to  the  flats,  who  the  latest  merchant  is  to  put  up  his  sign,  with 
frequently  a  bit  of  gossip  on  the  latest  romance  to  add  spice  to  the 
column.    Judge  J.  M.  Carey,  Buffalo  Bill,  T.  B.  Hord,  the  "Hon." 


10  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

John  Hunton  and  other  personages  of  the  time  are  frequently 
mentioned. 

Though  no  longer  an  open  prairie,  Wheatland  was  still  wind- 
swept, if  we  are  to  believe  the  story  which  tells  that  D.  M.  Carley, 
conductor  on  the  train  going  through  Wheatland,  was  literally 
blown  from  the  coach.  At  the  time  the  paper  went  to  press,  he 
was  recovering  from  his  injuries. 

Everything  about  the  new  minister  and  the  new  church  proved 
to  have  news  value.  Some  of  the  sermon  titles  listed  in  Mr.  Mid- 
daugh's  column  include:  "The  Staff  of  Life,"  "Ecce  Homo," 
"Deliverance,"  and  "America,  God's  Chosen  Country." 

The  Ladies'  Auxiliary  (Ladies  Aid)  is  mentioned  for  the  first 
time  August  2,  1895  with  the  announcement  that  it  will  give  a 
"ten  cent  shadow  social"  at  the  church  the  following  Thursday 
evening.  Junior  (Christian)  Endeavor  makes  its  first  appearance 
in  the  news  August  16.  In  the  next  issue:  "The  young  peoples' 
society  (C.  E.)  enjoyed  a  pleasant  Tuesday  night  at  the  home  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  D.  McCallum.  The  usual  games  and  amusements 
were  indulged  in." 

In  the  fall  of  '95,  the  church  board  decided  to  hold  a  series  of 
"protracted"  meetings  and  to  ask  the  assistance  of  the  Revs. 
Lyman  and  A.  A.  Brown.  Though  the  World  implies  that  the 
meetings  were  not  too  fruitful,  with  only  "two  or  three  conver- 
sions" being  made,  those  listed  in  the  church  records  from  August 
through  to  the  end  of  the  first  year  would  indicate  that  the  revival 
spirit  was  in  the  air  and  that  the  church,  under  the  leadership  of 
the  Rev.  J.  M.  Brown,  was  growing  with  the  community  which  it 
served. 

The  new  members  added  to  the  church  roll  before  the  end  of 
the  year  include:  Mrs.  Martha  Allen,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  N. 
Paddock,  Wesley  A.  and  Mary  E.  Strong,  Mary  J.,  Henry  A.  and 
Lurla  Phelps,  Grant  and  Nora  West,  Mrs.  George  Lord,  Elmer  K. 
Niner  (Jennie's  brother),  Katie  Allen  (daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
A.  C.  Allen),  Alice  and  Blanch  Morrison  (daughters  of  the  Cald- 
well Morrisons),  Mrs.  Martha  Catlin,  Mercy  Forrey  and  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Reed.  Mrs.  Allen,  whose  name  appears  as  Martha  J.,  M.  J., 
Mrs.  A.  C,  served  many  years  as  church  Clerk  and  was  faithful 
at  all  services.  Since  Wheatland  had  treacherous  open  ditches, 
conveying  irrigation  water  along  the  streets,  she  always  took  the 
precaution  of  carrying  her  lantern  to  services  on  dark  nights, 
though  she  lived  only  a  block  away. 

In  October  '05,  Mrs.  McCallum  accompanied  the  Revs.  A.  A. 
and  J.  M.  Brown  to  Cheyenne  as  a  delegate  from  Wheatland  to 
the  Congregational  Association.  An  invitation  was  extended  and 
accepted  to  hold  the  meeting  the  following  year  in  Wheatland. 
"This  is  a  decided  victory  for  the  delegates  from  Wheatland  and 
an  important  recognition  of  our  town."     (World,  Oct.  25) 


WHEATLAND'S  FIRST  CHURCH  11 

The  first  Christmas  season  in  the  new  church  was  a  gala  affair, 
with  the  Sunday  School  presenting  the  first  Christmas  cantata. 
"Come  and  hear  about  Santa  Claus's  Mistake,"  the  World  urged. 
(Dec.  20)  This  is  followed  in  the  next  issue  by  a  quaint  account 
of  what  took  place.  z  z 

Santa  Claus  reigned  supreme  at  the  Congregational  Church  Tuesday 
evening  when  a  cantata  and  Christmas  tree  exercises  were  given.  The 
entertaining  features  of  the  evening  were  good,  in  fact  excellent,  and 
were  much  enjoyed.  The  tree  and  pulpit  were  tastily  decorated  and 
the  whole  presented  an  animated  scene  of  joy  and  pleasure,  in  which 
there  were  reasons  for  about  everyone  to  smile  and  be  happy.  The 
little  folks  had  special  reasons  for  retaining  pleasant  memories  of  the 
occasion  as  their  numerous  wants  and  wishes  had  all  been  given 
dutiful  attention. 

A  complete  list  of  officers  was  elected  at  the  first  annual  meet- 
ing, Jan.  1,  1896,  with  the  addition  of  chairmen  for  the  following 
permanent  committees:  Music,  Pastoral,  Social. 

The  church  records  show  no  reason  for  the  optimistic  statement 
in  the  World  (Jan.  3,  1896)  that  the  Treasurer's  report  at  the 
annual  meeting  showed  an  indebtedness  of  "only"  $200,  a  portion 
of  which  was  raised  during  the  meeting.  The  records  list  the 
cost  of  the  church  building  and  fixtures  as  follows: 

Building  cost  _  ._ _ $1,093.26 

lamps  ..._ 11.99 

matting 6.00 

stove _ _.  28.80 

chairs  _ 217.49 

organ 132.30 

bell  and  tower  244.15 

In  an  undated  entry,  prior  to  October  7,  the  church  voted  to 
make  application  to  the  Home  Missionary  Society  for  $450.  One 
of  the  new  members  taken  in  at  this  time  was  Mrs.  Mora  Hunton, 
who  served  long  and  faithfully.  Mrs.  Mary  Arnold,  another  active 
worker  for  many  years,  joined  soon  after. 

Records  of  the  annual  meeting  in  1897  show  that  though  con- 
fronted with  financial  problems,  it  was  voted  that  "delinquent  sub- 
scribers be  forgiven." 

Wheatland,  still  growing,  was  now  boasting  of  a  new  and 
up-to-date  Roller  Mill,  built  by  the  Wyoming  Development  Com- 
pany. Besides  being  the  largest  enterprise  in  the  community,  it 
received  recognition  at  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  (1904) 
for  its  quality  flour. 

In  November,  the  town's  first  resident  minister  received  his 
formal  dismissal  and  letters  of  recommendation,  after  having  re- 
signed three  months  before. 


12 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  D.  McCallum 


We  quote  one  of  these  letters,  which  speaks  as  much  for  the 
Clerk  as  it  does  for  the  pastor. 

"We  consider  Rev.  J.  M.  Brown  a  man  of  thorough  Christian  char- 
acter; an  exemplary  young  man;  a  fluent  speaker.  His  style  is 
flowery;  his  words  carefully  chosen.  He  is  loved  and  respected  by 
all  who  know  him.  He  left  this  place  from  his  own  choice  and  not 
the  will  of  the  people." 

M.  J.  Allen,  Clerk,  Wheatland  Congregational  Church 

According  to  the  World,  "Rev.  F.  L.  Sanborn,  (Oct.  1,  1897 — 
April  1,  1898)  late  of  Yorkville,  111.,  occupied  the  Congregational 
pulpit  Sunday  (Oct.  22)  and  has  been  called  to  the  pastorate  of 
the  church.  His  family  is  now  visiting  in  Longmont,  Colo.  Rev. 
Sanborn  comes  well  recommended  and  will  no  doubt  be  found  to 
be  a  pleasant  Christian  gentleman." 

One  of  his  official  duties  a  few  days  after  his  arrival  was  to  unite 
in  marriage  Miss  Emma  Sutherland  and  Patrick  Daly  at  the  home 
of  Mrs.  M.  L.  McCormick  on  the  Laramie  River.  The  week  be- 
fore Christmas,  Rev.  Sanborn  gave  a  lecture  at  the  school  house  on 
"American  History  is  an  Interesting  Study."  The  Sanborns  took 
an  active  part  in  church  affairs,  with  Mrs.  Sanborn  serving  as 
chorister  and  a  member  of  the  social  and  visiting  committees  and 
Rev.  Sanborn  as  Sunday  School  Superintendent.  At  this  time, 
Mrs.  Hunton  was  Superintendent  of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  her 
son  John,  who  served  many  years  on  the  faculty  at  the  University 
of  Wyoming,  was  Sunday  School  organist. 

Apparently  the  original  Constitution  and  By-Laws  were  out- 


WHEATLAND'S  FIRST  CHURCH  13 

grown,  for  they  were  annulled  at  the  annual  meeting,  Jan.  30, 
1898,  and  a  church  manual,  prepared  by  Rev.  James  Tompkins  of 
the  First  Congregational  Church  of  Minneapolis,  was  adopted. 

The  World  (April  1,  1898)  tells  us  that  "Rev.  Sanborn  has 
decided  to  move  his  family  to  Colorado  and  will  shortly  return  to 
Illinois  for  a  brief  visit.  He  has  not  fully  decided  upon  a  location 
yet,  but  expects  to  remain  in  the  West.  During  his  residence  here 
as  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church,  Rev.  Sanborn  and  his 
estimable  family  have  made  many  warm  personal  friends  who  will 
greatly  regret  his  departure.  Rev.  Sanborn  will  be  found  to  be  a 
true  Christian  gentleman,  worthy  of  full  confidence  and  high 
esteem." 

Rev.  A.  A.  Brown  then  returned  to  Wheatland  to  be  of  assis- 
tance, financially  and  otherwise.  He  "kindly  promised,"  according 
to  the  record  (April  4)  to  furnish  $400  from  the  Missionary  fund 
to  be  applied  on  the  salary  of  J.  M.  Blanks  (June  2,  1898 — June 
1,  1899),  whom  the  church  voted  to  call. 

Rev.  Blanks,  at  the  time  a  student  in  the  Oberlin  Theological 
Seminary,  was  unable  to  take  over  the  pastorate  until  June.  Un- 
married and  a  vigorous  worker,  the  young  man  began  holding 
services  regularly  at  Grant,  Wyo.,  which  is  no  longer  listed  as  a 
post  office.  A  week  after  his  arrival  in  Wheatland,  the  church 
voted  him  the  power  to  administer  the  sacrament.  It  must  have 
been  heart  warming  when  at  the  annual  meeting,  Jan.  4,  1899,  the 
Treasurer  reported  the  church  out  of  debt,  the  minister's  salary 
paid,  and  money  in  the  treasury. 

Mrs.  C.  C.  Clark,  who  succeeded  Jennie  Drummond  at  the 
church  organ,  also  became  choir  director.  The  ushers  who  had 
first  been  listed  as  Kate  Allen  and  Alice  Morrison  (morning  ser- 
vices) and  Fred  Allen  and  Ray  Catlin  (evening  services)  sim- 
mered down  to  two.  Dean  Hunton  and  Fred  Allen,  the  latter  also 
serving  as  janitor  at  50  cents  a  month. 

Rev.  Blanks  was  well  liked  by  the  young  people,  who  gave  a 
farewell  party  in  his  honor.  The  surprise  party  was  held  at  the 
home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCallum,  which  was  always  the  center  of 
social  activities  of  the  church.  "The  evening  was  very  pleasantly 
spent  at  games,  and  dainty  refreshments  were  served.  At  a  late 
hour  the  guests  took  their  departure,  only  regretting  that  the 
evening  was  so  short."     (World,  June  30) 

Rev.  Blanks  left  Wheatland,  July  6,  1899,  for  Pine  Bluff,  Tenn., 
for  a  visit  with  friends  before  re-entering  college  in  the  fall.  Ac- 
cording to  the  World,  he  left  with  "the  best  wishes  of  a  large  hst 
of  friends." 

.  Just  where  Rev.  D.  L.  Thomas  (June  1,  1899 — Jan.  22,  "01) 
was  from  is  not  recorded.  He  was  a  bachelor,  who  came  for  two 
months  trial,  with  a  view  to  permanency.  The  congregation  was 
so  well  pleased  with  him  that  he  was  given  a  call  to  the  pastorate 
before  he  had  been  in  Wheatland  a  month. 


14  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

The  proceeds  from  a  Fourth  of  July  "ice  cream  table  and  other 
monies  secured  in  different  ways"  were  used  to  complete  the  pay- 
ment on  the  bell  tower.  In  August,  both  the  Methodist  and 
Congregational  churches  had  to  call  off  services  because  of  a 
threatened  diphtheria  epidemic. 

In  January  1900,  the  new  Superintendent  of  Missions,  Rev. 
W.  B.  D.  Gray,  conducted  a  series  of  meetings.  He  was  accom- 
panied by  his  wife,  who  died  in  October  of  paralysis.  The  records 
include  a  letter  of  condolence  to  Mr.  Gray. 

Two  events  of  interest  were  recorded  during  the  year.  At  a 
prayer  meeting  in  July  the  church  accepted  a  gift  from  Mrs.  Al 
Bowie,  "a  beautiful  collection  plate  made  of  Olive  wood  from 
Jerusalem.''  In  November,  Mrs.  F.  N.  Shiek  helped  give  an 
entertainment,  the  nature  of  which  we  do  not  know.  It  netted 
the  church  $50.85,  which  was  to  be  used  for  painting  the  outside 
of  the  church.     It  was  slate  grey  in  color. 

Rev.  Thomas  was  one  of  the  most  enterprising  ministers  the 
church  had  yet  known.  He  not  only  did  the  actual  work  of  repair- 
ing the  church  building,  but  he  also  contributed  financially,  10 
cents  toward  the  fund  for  cleaning  the  organ,  $35.64  for  fencing 
and  $1.75  for  the  express  on  the  racks  to  hold  the  newly  acquired 
song  books.  It  might  be  added  that  only  10  cents  was  needed  in 
addition  to  a  small  amount  left  over  from  the  bell  tower  fund 
and  the  "take"  from  the  gramaphone  concert. 

Besides  extending  to  the  minister  a  vote  of  thanks  for  his 
"substantial"  aid,  the  church  members  also  showed  their  gratitude 
(May  7,  1900)  by  voting  to  raise  his  salary  (from  $700)  "if  need 
be"  to  keep  him  another  year.  Though  it  was  not  stipulated,  his 
salary  was  probably  raised  to  $800  since  that  is  the  figure  men- 
tioned for  the  next  minister. 

Rev.  Thomas  is  deserving  of  further  mention  for  his  appreciation 
of  church  records.  In  his  bold  handwriting  we  find,  for  the  first 
time,  a  listing  of  the  marriages  (13),  funerals  (9)  and  baptisms 
(6),  some  of  which  prove  interesting.  At  the  marriage  of  Miss 
Jeanie  Grant  and  Charles  Lawrence  (at  the  Duncan  Grant  home, 
June  1901),  Rev.  J.  M.  Brown,  then  of  Keystone,  S.  D.,  assisted. 
This  is  the  only  mention  of  his  ever  returning  to  Wheatland. 
Though  the  first  wedding  in  the  Congregational  Church  in  Wheat- 
land is  not  known,  Rev.  Thomas  lists  the  marriage  of  Levi  B. 
Moody  and  Anna  Nolan  as  the  first  to  take  place  in  the  Congre- 
gational Church  in  Guernsey.  Among  the  well  remembered 
couples  married  by  Rev.  Thomas  were  the  Southworths,  the  Andy 
Neilsons,  the  Charles  ("Doc")  Morrisons,  the  Pate  Shepards,  and 
the  Walter  Pattersons.  Rev.  Thomas  records  baptism  of  the 
following  infants:  Louise  Ebert,  Robert  and  Leo  Trenholm,  and 
the  McDougall  children,  (John  Clay,  Don  Alexander  Bowie,  and 
Jeanette  Alice)  at  the  Two  Bar,  the  last  named  being  "sprinkled" 
by  Rev.  Blanks. 


WHEATLAND'S  FIRST  CHURCH  15 

The  funerals  include  that  of  "a  pauper  from  Albany  County," 
who  died  at  the  hotel,  a  death  from  typhoid,  one  from  whooping 
cough  and  one  from  drowning. 

In  the  Clerk's  account  of  the  prayer  meeting  (May  16,  1900), 
an  invitation  was  read  to  attend  the  organization  of  the  Union 
Congregational  Church  at  Guernsey.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCallum, 
who  represented  Wheatland,  later  reported  the  organization  of  the 
Guernsey  church  with  a  membership  of  2 1 . 

Though  a  motion  was  made  at  a  called  meeting,  August  12,  to 
give  a  Rev.  H.  Rice  an  invitation  of  two  weeks  "on  trial,"  for  which 
he  was  to  be  paid  $20,  and  another  motion  was  made  (Sept.  5) 
to  consider  the  advisability  of  caUing  a  pastor,  it  remained  the  will 
of  the  majority  to  retain  Rev.  Thomas  until  Jan.  22,  1901.  On 
that  date  there  was  the  single  entry,  "Rev.  D.  L.  Thomas  started 
away  today." 

In  1901,  Wheatland  had  its  first  operation,  an  appendectomy 
performed  on  a  dining  room  table  in  a  private  home  by  Dr.  C.  C. 
Croskery,  a  member  of  the  Congregational  Church,  with  Dr. 
Rigdon  assisting. 

The  next  minister.  Rev.  George  W.  Crater  (May  2,  1901  — 
May  1,  1903),  kept  a  "missionary  diary,"  a  copy  of  which  has 
been  furnished  through  the  kindness  of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Edna 
Crater  Haymes  of  San  Diego.  Mrs.  Haymes  says  that  her  father, 
a  New  Yorker,  worked  under  Rev.  W.  B.  D.  Gray  in  South 
Dakota.  When  he  came  to  Wyoming,  Rev.  Crater  followed,  com- 
ing first  to  Douglas,  then  to  Wheatland.  Mrs.  Crater,  who  was 
also  ordained,  helped  with  services  at  Glendo,  Cottonwood  and 
Guernsey.  They  had  four  children,  Ernest,  a  student  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wyoming;  Edna,  who  attended  school  at  Chadron, 
Nebr.,  a  Congregational  Academy  then;  Rollo,  9;  and  Neta,  3. 
This  family  of  interesting  children  brought  new  life  into  the  church. 

Mr.  Crater's  diary  is  much  more  enUghtening  than  the  church 
records.  He  painstakingly  lists  all  meetings,  giving  the  scripture, 
the  title  of  the  sermon,  and  a  record  of  attendance.  He  called 
tirelessly  upon  the  members  and  friends  of  the  church,  whose 
names  are  given  on  each  date.  Occasionally  a  personal  note 
creeps  in.  For  instance,  Rev.  Crater  borrowed  the  McCallum's 
horse  and  buggy  (which  the  ministers  often  did)  and  took  Edna 
and  Neta  calling  in  the  country  with  him  one  day.  They  visited 
the  Max  Eberts,  the  John  McKinnons  (Miskimmins),  the  Nylan- 
ders  and  the  Nelsons. 

The  next  day,  the  whole  family  attended  a  Missionary  Tea  at 
Mrs.  McCallum's  home.  He  reports  about  75  in  attendance. 
"Cash  received  at  10  cents  per  dish  of  ice  cream  and  cake,  about 
$7.50." 

On  July  3,  he  bought  his  horse,  "Prentis,"  for  which  he  paid 
$30.  The  next  day,  he  recorded  the  saddest  chapter  in  his  life, 
his  account  of  the  drowning  of  his  son,  Ernest,  and  Dr.  and  Mrs. 


16  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Rigdon's  son,  John,  at  Festo  Lake.  This  was  the  third  son  the 
Rigdons  lost  in  as  many  years.  Ernest,  who  was  President  E.  E. 
Smiley's  secretary  at  the  University,  was  working  at  the  Wheatland 
Mercantile  Store  and  staying  with  his  parents  during  the  summer 
vacation. 

Only  two  Sundays  before  his  death,  his  contribution  to  the 
program  at  Christian  Endeavor  had  been  the  quotation,  "I  know 
not  where  the  islands  lift  their  fronded  palms  in  air.  I  only  know 
I  cannot  drift  beyond  His  love  and  care."  President  Smiley,  who 
preached  his  funeral  service,  stated  that  if  he  were  to  name  the  two 
young  men  in  Wyoming  whose  lives  promised  most  for  the  future, 
he  would  have  named  Ernest  Crater  and  John  Rigdon. 

Mr.  Crater  was  so  stunned,  he  recorded  the  events  of  the  day 
with  precision,  bordering  on  stoicism,  commenting  only,  "May  our 
faith  fail  not,  for  without  it,  we  could  not  bear  this  terrible  blow!" 
He  did  not  stop  work,  for  it  helped  him  to  bear  up,  and  although 
everyone  was  sympathetic  and  understanding,  there  was  much  to 
be  done.  Having  made  an  appointment  for  the  evening  at  Mrs. 
Allen's  to  unite  George  Allen  and  Emma  Myers  in  marriage,  he 
did  not  disappoint  them.  "How  wonderfully  are  mingled  life  and 
death  and  joy  and  sorrow!"  he  comments. 

Edna  Haymes'  account,  written  more  than  fifty  years  later,  is 
filled  with  cherished  memories.  She  was  fifteen,  Ernest  twenty, 
when  the  tragic  accident  occurred.  Both  versions  may  be  found 
in  the  complete  history  of  the  church. 

The  benevolences  for  1901  include  contributions  to  the  Jack- 
sonville fire  sufferers,  the  W.  C.  T.  U.,  the  China  famine  sufferers 
and  to  the  Children's  Home. 

A  few  brief  items  of  interest  were  recorded  in  1902.  (March  9 ) 
"There  was  read  in  church  today,  a  letter  from  Scotland  recom- 
mending Mr.  and  Mrs.  Andrew  Neilson  to  any  church  with  which 
they  may  wish  to  unite."  At  the  same  time,  a  lot  adjoining  the 
church  property  was  purchased  for  $100.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  David 
Gordon  were  accepted  as  church  members  "in  full  connection" 
(April  6)  and  were  gladly  welcomed.  The  Gordons  had  previous- 
ly lived  on  a  ranch  on  Horseshoe  Creek  west  of  Glendo,  where 
they  were  instrumental  in  founding  and  building  the  Union  Church 
in  1  897,  which  for  many  years  was  served  by  Wheatland  ministers. 
Mr.  Gordon  also  helped  organize  the  Congregational  Church  in 
Torrington,  June  20,  1903. 

Dave  Gordon,  who  came  directly  to  Wyoming  from  his  native 
Ireland,  was  a  cousin  of  Johnny  Gordon,  of  Uva,  who  conceived 
the  idea  of  the  Wheatland  irrigation  project.  Mrs.  Gordon,  as  a 
young  woman,  came  to  America  to  take  care  of  Mr.  Gordon's 
six  children,  whose  mother  died  before  they  left  Ireland.  She 
lived  a  consecrated  life  of  service.  She  and  Mr.  Gordon  had  one 
daughter,  Mary,  now  living  in  California. 


WHEATLAND'S  FIRST  CHURCH  17 

In  1900,  a  council  was  held  for  the  ordination  of  Miss  Annette 
Beecher  and  a  Mr.  Erwin.  Some  time  between  then  and  March 
30,  1903,  Miss  Beecher  became  the  second  wife  of  Supt.  W.  B.  D. 
Gray.  Together  they  served  the  churches  in  this  region  many 
years. 

The  annual  meeting  for  the  year  1902  heard  the  Treasurer 
report  $442.17,  collected  during  the  year,  with  $440.59  paid  to 
the  pastor,  far  short  of  the  salary  of  $800  he  was  supposed  to  have 
received.  The  balance  in  the  treasury  was  $1.08,  in  the  Ladies' 
Auxiliary  $44.30.  The  Missionary  Society  raised  $20  and  the 
"Blessing  Society"  $9.95.  This  is  the  only  mention  in  the  records 
of  the  "Blessing  Society." 

The  members,  who  had  never  kept  a  minister  longer  than  two 
years,  were  due  for  a  change.  The  treasury  was  at  a  financial  low, 
few  members  were  being  added  to  the  church,  more  were  with- 
drawing or  being  dropped  because  they  had  moved  away  and  had 
"evinced  no  desire  within  the  last  two  years"  to  continue  their 
membership.  Those  needing  someone  to  blame,  quite  naturally 
settled  on  the  pastor. 

There  were  many  W.  C.  T.  U.  workers  in  the  church.  In  fact, 
at  various  times  Rev.  Thomas  had  turned  the  pulpit  over  on 
Sunday  morning  to  temperance  speakers.  A  notation  in  Rev. 
Crater's  diary  suggests  that  he  might  have  shocked  some  of  his 
members.  (June  21,  1901)  "Called  at  the  one  saloon  in  Wheat- 
land to  leave  cards  of  invitation  to  services.  Called  at  both  black- 
smith shops  and  both  livery  barns."  The  last  entry  was  logical 
for  he  was  interested  in  horses,  but  a  preacher  in  a  saloon!  Such 
had  never  been  heard  of  in  Wheatland  before.  Then,  too,  there 
were  those  who  could  not  forget  that  John  Rigdon  whom  they 
knew  so  well  had  lost  his  life  to  save  his  friend  whom  they  did  not 
know. 

It  is  apparent  that  after  Rev.  Crater  withdrew  from  the  annual 
meeting  (Jan.  1903),  the  matter  was  freely  discussed.  It  was 
moved  that  those  in  favor  of  retaining  Mr.  Crater  as  pastor  of  the 
church  vote,  "Yes."  Those  opposed,  "No."  When  the  ballots 
were  counted,  the  negative  carried. 

The  following  notice  was  read  at  the  next  Sunday  morning 
service:  "I  will  close  my  labors  on  this  field  on  the  last  day  of  April 
next,  the  end  of  this  my  second  year  as  pastor  of  this  church.  The 
church  is  at  liberty  to  seek  and  to  call  my  successor.  That  you 
may  be  guided  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  make  a  wise  choice,  you  have 
my  prayers."     (signed)  George  W.  Crater. 

Rev.  W.  B.  D.  Gray  served  as  Moderator  at  a  meeting  March 
30.  While  a  motion  to  accept  the  resignation  of  Rev.  Crater  was 
carried,  it  was  also  voted  that  a  paper  presented  by  Mr.  Gordon 
be  copied  in  the  church  records.  It  read  as  follows:  "We  the 
undersigned  members  of  the  Congregational  Church  do  not  wish 
to  accept  the  resignation  of  our  pastor,  Mr.  G.  W.  Crater,  believing 


18 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  Caldwell  Morrison 


that  he  has  been  the  most  efficient  and  faithful  minister  ever  in 
charge  of  our  church,"  signed  by  twenty-one  of  the  church's  most 
active  workers.  The  Craters'  loyal  Wheatland  friends  gave  a 
monument  for  Ernest's  grave  as  a  "going  away  present." 

At  the  March  meeting,  a  motion  was  made  and  carried  to  call 
Rev.  J.  W.  Moore  (July  12,  1903— Mar.  1,  1907)  of  Woodstock, 
111.,  to  the  pastorate  at  a  salary  of  $800.  The  church  extended  an 
invitation  to  Mrs.  Annette  B.  Gray,  general  missionary,  to  supply 
the  pulpit  until  Rev.  Moore  could  take  over.  Rev.  Crater  accepted 
a  call  to  the  state  of  Washington. 

Mrs.  Gray  is  fondly  remembered  by  some  of  the  old  timers  as  a 
"missionary  type"  with  a  heavenly  face.  She  was  a  forceful  wo- 
man, with  expressive  hands,  and  she  wore  a  robe  when  she  deliv- 
ered her  sermons,  something  different  in  the  pulpit  in  Wheatland. 

At  the  Easter  Sunday  morning  service  in  1903,  Mrs.  Louise 
Merrill,  grandmother  of  Hazelle  Ferguson,  was  received  into  full 
membership.  Thus  began  a  family  interest  in  the  church  that  has 
carried  into  the  fifth  generation.    This  was  the  year  of  Wheatland's 


WHEATLAND'S  FIRST  CHURCH  19 

big  fire,  when  the  elevator  burned,  destroying  60,000  bushels  of 
wheat. 

In  1904,  Mrs.  F.  N.  Shiek  was  elected  the  first  woman  Trustee, 
to  fill  a  vacancy  when  one  of  the  members  moved  away.  Though 
Mrs.  Shiek  did  not  transfer  her  membership  from  her  church  in 
Massachusetts  until  the  next  year,  she  was  actively  interested  in 
every  branch  of  the  local  church.  She  also  had  the  distinction  of 
being  the  first  president  of  the  W.T.K.  Club,  which  was  organized 
at  the  Congregational  Church  Jan.  18,  1904,  from  its  predecessor 
theLiterary  Clubof '01. 

The  Trustees  were  authorized  to  borrow  $800  from  C.C.B.S. 
in  April  1 904  for  the  purpose  of  building  a  parsonage.  The  mort- 
gage was  executed  in  November,  with  the  Trustees  serving  as  the 
building  committee. 

In  February  1905,  Mrs.  W.  H.  Morrison  earned  the  titb  of 
"lady  booster  for  the  Wheatland  Colony"  after  writing  an  enthus- 
iastic account  for  her  home  town  paper  in  Mt.  Olivet,  Ky.  J.  R. 
Mason,  promoter  for  the  Wyoming  Development  Company,  was  so 
impressed  that  he  used  reprints  in  leaflet  form  in  his  advertising 
campaign.    We  quote: 

Just  think  of  five  hundred  families  or  more  bound  together  by 
bonds  of  water,  and  it  holds  longer  than  pledges  in  a  stronger  liquid! 
Wheatland  is  a  model,  clean  little  city,  remarkably  free  from  immor- 
ality. The  town  is  unincorporated,  has  no  police  protection  other 
than  that  furnished  by  justice  court,  and  has  never  felt  the  need  of 
any  better  protection. 

This  place  is  noted  for  its  pretty  homes,  beautiful  lawns  and 
gardens.  Nearly  all  of  the  residences  and  business  houses  are  of 
brick.  It  has  four  business  blocks.  Three  nice  churches,  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal,  Congregational  and  Catholic,  a  public  library  building 
which  contains  over  six  hundred  volumes,  two  good  hotels,  and  a 
roller  mill  with  a  capacity  of  150  barrels.  Its  flour  is  of  such  a 
superior  quality  that  it  received  the  gold  medal  award  at  the  St.  Louis 
World's  Fair. 

The  climate  here  is  ideal,  but  one  must  live  in  the  West  to  compre- 
hend its  charms.  While  we  still  love  our  old  Kentucky  home,  yet 
after  two  years'  residence  in  the  West,  the  metropolitan  East  seems 
like  a  dream,  for  the  West  holds  you  in  thraldom.  It  is  so  broad  and 
generous.  And  again,  it  is  such  a  relief  not  to  see  baking  powder  and 
patent  medicine  staring  you  in  the  face  from  every  rock  by  the  way- 
side. 

Wheatland's  third  church,  St.  Patrick's  Catholic,  was  built  by 
Rev.  James  Keating  in  1898.  The  original  building,  now  much 
improved,  is  still  being  used  for  services.  According  to  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Aeschbacher,  mass  was  celebrated  in  the  Wheatland  area 
by  the  Rev.  Francis  Nugent  in  the  home  of  Patrick  Mullin  on  the 
Laramie  River  as  early  as  1885.  The  Parish  of  St.  Patrick  was 
incorporated  Aug.  12,  1905,  the  incorporation  papers  being  signed 
by  Casper  Rowse  and  John  Mullin.  The  Rev.  Patrick  Long,  the 
first  resident  pastor  of  the  Catholic  Church,  was  in  Wheatland 


20  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

from  February  1907  until  July  1910.  He  also  took  charge  of  the 
missions  at  Guernsey,  Sunrise,  Hartville,  Torrington  and  Glendo. 

Mrs.  Morrison  might  have  added  to  her  story  that  the  local 
smokers  about  this  time  were  lighting  up  with  a  "Two  Bar  Cigar" 
from  the  Wheatland  Cigar  Factory  and  that  the  young  people  were 
dancing  to  the  tune  of  the  Dearinger  Orchestra.  The  musicians 
were  Frank  Dearinger,  cornet;  Harry  Dearinger,  violin;  and  E.  M. 
Norton  (first  telephone  manager)  harp.  Many  of  the  early  set- 
tlers, who  classified  smoking  and  dancing  with  the  ma^or  vices, 
were  not  too  happy  over  either. 

Though  Mrs.  Morrison  is  not  on  the  list  of  charter  members, 
she  and  her  husband  were  active  in  the  Christian  Church  move- 
ment from  its  inception  in  1904.  Two  years  later  the  organization 
was  complete  with  32  charter  members.  On  June  14,  1908,  the 
Christian  church  building  was  dedicated.  Wheatland  had  reason 
to  be  proud  of  its  first  four  churches,  whose  members  are  num- 
bered among  its  pioneers. 

In  Rev.  Moore's  letter  of  resignation  as  pastor  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church  (Dec.  29,  1906),  he  says,  "It  is  now  three  and  a 
half  years  since  we  began  work  together  here.  They  have  been 
years  of  pleasantness  to  me,  and  I  think  have  not  been  without 
benefit  to  us  all.  During  this  time  our  church  property  has 
doubled  in  value.  Our  membership  has  increased  from  51  to  89. 
We  have  been  together  in  joy  and  sorrow." 

Rev.  Moore's  daughter,  Mary  Moore  Hawes  was  only  three 
years  old  when  the  family  moved  to  Douglas,  where  her  father 
was  accidentally  killed  by  a  train.  According  to  one  of  her  letters 
written  from  her  home  in  Fairbanks,  Alaska,  Rev.  Moore  was  an 
athletic  sort  of  person.  He  loved  to  ride  horseback  and  play 
baseball  and  tennis.  Though  she  does  not  remember  him,  she  has 
often  been  told  that  "he  had  a  fine  voice  and  was  considered 
broadminded." 

Though  the  first  mention  of  the  Ladies'  Auxiliary  did  not  appear 
in  the  records  until  1901,  it  was  the  oldest  woman's  organization 
in  the  church,  dating  back  to  August  2,  1895.  With  its  larger 
membership  and  fund  raising  programs,  it  overshadowed  the  Mis- 
sionary Society  (first  mentioned  Dec.  1902)  though  the  latter 
lasted  thirty  years.  The  Auxiliary  was  primarily  concerned  with 
local  finances,  while  the  Missionary  Society  stressed  the  foreign 
field.  The  Ladies'  Auxiliary  became  the  Ladies'  Aid  in  December 
1906. 

Rev.  James  E.  Butler  (April  7,  1907— March  28,  1909),  of 
Lowell,  Michigan,  was  next  called  at  a  salary  of  $800,  parsonage 
rent  free.  He  was  graduated  from  the  Chicago  Theological  Sem- 
inary in  the  '80's  and  had  preached  in  Illinois,  Indiana  and  Michi- 
gan before  coming  to  Wyoming.  Rev.  Moore  and  Rev.  Butler  had 
been  friends  since  childhood. 

The  Butler  family  consisted  of  three  children,  Ellen,  12;  Victor, 


WHEATLAND'S  FIRST  CHURCH  21 

9;  and  Lou,  7.  Mrs.  Butler's  mother,  who  accompanied  the  fam- 
ily to  Wheatland,  passed  away  a  few  weeks  later.  While  Rev. 
Butler  died  many  years  ago,  his  widow,  now  in  her  nineties,  still 
corresponds  with  her  Wheatland  friends.  The  reminiscences  of 
Mrs.  Butler,  Victor  and  Ellen  (Butler)  Cole  of  San  Diego  are 
filed  with  ths  church  history.  It  is  apparent  that  they  still  have  a 
warm  spot  in  their  hearts  for  Wheatland. 

Mrs.  Butler,  who  helped  organize  the  Reading  Circle,  was  also 
an  early  member  of  W.  T.  K.  Club.  When  Rev.  Butler  discon- 
tinued preaching  in  1909,  he  moved  his  family  to  a  farm  about 
three  miles  from  town,  near  the  lake.  Lou  is  still  remembered 
as  "the  pop  corn  boy,"  as  he  earned  $600  by  means  of  selling  pop 
corn  to  help  pay  for  a  house  the  Butlers  built  in  Wheatland.  It  is 
now  known  as  the  George  Wain  residence.  The  story,  written  by 
Mrs.  Butler,  was  placed  in  a  tin  box  and  built  into  a  newel  post, 
where  it  was  found  when  the  house  was  remodeled. 

Mrs.  W.  B.  D.  Gray  (April  4,  1909— Aug.  30,  1909)  was 
accepted  as  temporary  pastor,  "with  all  the  privileges  and  salary 
of  a  regular  pastor  until  such  time  as  a  suitable  pastor  be  found." 
He  was  Rev.  C.  H.  Gilmore  (Oct.  1,  1909— Dec.  23,  1910),  who 
was  called  at  an  increase  in  salary  to  $1,000.  On  October  3,  he 
preached  his  first  sermon  as  regular  pastor. 

His  report  appears  in  full  in  the  church  records  as  it  was  given 
at  the  annual  meeting,  January  3,  1910.  It  is  straightforward  and 
to  the  point.  During  his  first  three  months,  he  had  the  "Grippe," 
lasting  two  weeks.  Nevertheless,  he  made  1 16  calls,  preached  38 
sermons,  attended  8  prayer  meetings  and  13  sessions  of  Sunday 
School.  He  received  two  into  the  church  on  Confession  of  Faith, 
preached  one  funeral  and  solemnized  one  marriage.  He  also 
received  $  1 60  on  his  salary.  While  receiving  the  kindest  reception 
by  the  people,  he  frankly  admitted  he  had  no  doubt  that  some  had 
been  disappointed  in  him.  He  comments,  "We  do  not  expect  to 
meet  with  the  commendation  of  all  the  people,  for  that  is  more 
than  the  Savior  himself  did  while  on  earth." 

There  are  records  to  show  that  more  than  once  the  men  of  the 
church  showed  their  appreciation  by  a  rising  vote  of  thanks  for 
the  splendid  work  of  the  women's  organizations.  One  such  occa- 
sion was  Jan.  3,  1910  when  the  women  were  so  honored  for  their 
work  in  paying  off  the  mortgage  on  the  parsonage. 

Mr.  Gilmore  did  a  great  deal  of  calling,  using  the  McCallums' 
well-fed  chestnut  sorrel,  always  at  the  disposal  of  the  ministers. 
He  drove  about  the  country-side  and  visited  far  and  wide.  A  good 
mixer,  he  spent  quite  a  bit  of  time  in  the  barber  shop,  exchanging 
jokes  with  his  friends,  much  more  time  than  some  of  his  parishion- 
ers deemed  proper. 

Although  the  motion  to  call  Rev.  Gilmore  for  another  year  car- 
ried, thirty  to  eight,  he  submitted  his  resignation  November  13. 


22  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Again  he  did  not  mince  words.  "I  hereby  tender  my  resignation 
to  take  effect  on  and  after  the  Lord's  day  morning  (services)  in 
December  (23),  1910." 

A  significant  notation  appears  in  the  minutes  of  the  December 
meeting.  A  discussion  transpired  regarding  the  kind  of  minister 
needed.  "A  motion  was  made  and  carried  that  we  ask  for  a 
strictly  orthodox  Christian  minister.  A  motion  was  made  that  we 
ask  Mr.  Gray  to  send  us  a  young  man  and  that  he  come  on  trial 
for  three  or  four  Sundays  before  being  called.    Motion  lost." 

Again  Mrs.  Gray  was  asked  to  serve  as  a  supply  minister.  This 
she  declined  because  of  a  previous  arrangement  to  go  East.  She 
did.  however,  preach  a  sermon  on  the  morning  of  February  5  and 
call  a  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  helping  select  another  pastor. 
After  reading  the  credentials  of  several  prospective  ministers,  the 
members  decided  to  call  Rev.  R.  F.  Paxton  (May  1,  1911  to 
December  31,  1915)  of  Staples,  Minnesota.  This  time  the  congre- 
gation offered  to  pay  one-half  of  the  moving  expenses.  Mr. 
Paxton  was  hired  for  an  indefinite  period  of  time. 

On  Oct.  9,  1911,  the  Union  Congregational  Church  of  Wheat- 
land took  another  important  step  in  its  history.  It  voted  to  erect 
a  new  church  home.  In  order  to  do  this,  the  Trustees  were  author- 
ized to  apply  to  the  C.  C.  B.  S.  for  a  grant  of  $2,000  and  a  loan  of 
$1,500.  Again  the  Trustees  were  asked  to  serve  as  the  building 
committee  and  empowered  to  appoint  "others  outside  to  act  with 
them." 

The  Christian  Church  graciously  allowed  the  Congregational 
Church  free  use  of  its  building  while  the  old  church  was  still  unfit 
for  services  after  being  moved. 

The  new  church  was  dedicated,  Sunday,  Aug.  10,  1913,  with 
the  activities  beginning  at  the  Sunday  School  at  9:30  in  the  old 
building,  where  the  crowd  assembled  to  march  to  the  new  church 
to  hear  the  Rev.  S.  B.  Long,  of  Lusk.  The  concluding  service  on 
Wednesday  was  a  "Home  Gathering,"  honoring  Rev.  and  Mrs. 
W.  B.  D.  Gray. 

The  formal  Sunday  morning  dedicatory  service  included:  Scrip- 
ture, Rev.  Annette  B.  Gray;  Prayer,  Rev.  William  Flammer, 
Douglas;  Sermon,  Rev.  John  J.  Shingler,  Cheyenne;  Prayer  of 
Dedication,  Rev.  W.  B.  D.  Gray;  and  Benediction,  Rev.  S.  B. 
Long.  The  music  was  furnished  by  the  choir  and  by  Mrs.  O.  O. 
Natwick,  soloist,  and  Wade  Cramer,  of  Cheyenne,  violinist.  The 
Dedicatory  Hymn,  printed  on  the  program  and  sung  at  the  formal 
service,  was  composed  by  the  Rev.  R.  F.  Paxton. 

We  quote  from  one  of  the  local  papers,  "The  new  church  build- 
ing is  a  handsome  and  imposing  structure  and  would  be  a  credit 
to  any  city  many  times  the  size  of  Wheatland.  The  total  cost  of 
the  building  is  ($9,000  plus  $500  for  furnishings,  according  to 
one  clipping  in  the  records  and  $10,500  according  to  another). 
It  is  reported  free  of  debt"  (with  the  exception  of  $500  for  furnish- 


WHEATLAND'S  FIRST  CHURCH  23 

ings).  Those  in  the  congregation  who  cared  to  donate  toward  a 
sum  to  "clean  up  the  balance  due  on  the  church  '  were  given  on 
opportunity  to  do  so  before  the  close  of  the  services,  with  about 
$1,300  being  raised  in  this  manner  in  a  few  minutes.  When  the 
offering  was  taken,  it  was  announced  that  over  $  1 1 0  had  been 
deposited  in  the  collection  plates. 

The  newspaper  item  concludes  with  a  tribute  to  the  efforts  of 
the  pastor.  "Rev.  Paxton  is  deserving  of  more  than  ordinary 
praise  for  his  untiring  efforts  during  the  past  year  in  assisting  in 
the  work  of  soliciting  subscriptions,  and  also  for  manual  labor  per- 
formed in  assisting  with  the  construction  work,  as  without  his 
good  work,  it  is  doubtful  if  the  new  building  would  have  been 
built  at  the  time." 

A  letter  from  Mr.  Paxton's  widow,  now  Mrs.  Arthur  Nettleton 
of  St.  Cloud,  Fla.,  speaks  of  Mr.  Paxton's  diary,  a  copy  of  which 
we  hope  to  add  to  the  church  records.  She  says  that  she  used  to 
hear  Mr.  Paxton  say  of  the  church,  "It  seems  as  if  1  know  the 
cost  of  every  brick  and  timber  that  went  into  it." 

The  C.C.B.S.  apparently  granted  $3,000  outright  and  loaned 
$2,000,  according  to  Mr.  Paxton's  records,  for  he  says  that  the 
Ladies'  Aid  assumed  the  debt  ($2,000  to  run  10  years,  with  $200 
to  be  paid  annually)  and  that  in  the  subsequent  10  years  they 
never  failed  to  pay  promptly  their  annual  assessment  of  $200.  In 
October,  the  church  asked  C.C.B.S.  for  $500  to  complete  the 
basement,  agreeing  that  the  sum  be  paid  back  at  the  rate  of  $50 
a  year  without  interest. 

Mrs.  McCallum's  name  failed  to  appear  in  the  minutes  of  the 
annual  meeting  in  January  1914,  either  as  an  officer  of  the  church 
or  as  a  member  of  an  important  committee.  A  church  record 
(January  19)  says  simply,  "The  funeral  of  Mrs.  D.  McCallum 
was  held  in  the  church,  which  was  filled  to  its  full  seating  capacity, 
and  the  flowers,  tokens  of  esteem  from  many  friends,  were  many 
and  very  beautiful."  This  was  followed  by  a  long  resolution  ex- 
pressing deep  regard  for  "beloved  sister,  Anna  McCallum"  and 
paying  tribute  to  her  for  her  great  work  in  the  church,  in  the  Sun- 
day School  and  in  the  community. 

Mrs.  Dave  Gordon  made  a  motion  (October  1915)  that  Rev. 
Paxton's  resignation  not  be  accepted.  Her  motion  lost,  and  his 
resignation  took  effect,  though  he  was  recalled  to  this  church  to 
serve  again  in  1923. 

Again  the  W.B.D.  Grays  were  called  upon  for  help.  This  time 
Rev.  Gray  wrote  the  letter,  dated  "Midnight,"  to  Rev.  Arthur  T. 
Evans  (Mar.  15,  1916 — Jan.  1,  1920)  of  Fairmont,  Nebr.,  whom 
the  congregation  voted  to  call.  In  it,  he  stipulated  a  salary  of 
$1,200  and  parsonage.  Rev.  Evans  was  installed  as  pastor  and 
preached  his  first  sermon  March  5.  He,  Mrs.  Evans  and  three  of 
their  children  were  received  into  fellowship  with  Rev.  Gray  offi- 
ciating. 


24  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Two  months  later,  Rev.  Evans  read  a  long  statement  from 
C.C.B.S.,  explaining  the  reorganization  of  the  missionary  agencies 
under  the  direction  of  the  National  Council  and  the  adoption  of  a 
more  businesslike  method  of  distributing  missionary  aid.  This 
simmered  down  to  the  fact  that  the  churches  desiring  aid  must  first 
do  everything  in  their  power  to  help  themselves. 

Plans  for  handling  the  finances  of  the  church  by  the  budget 
system  were  formulated  in  October.  The  following  month,  the 
matter  was  still  under  discussion  and  the  question  was  to  be  pre- 
sented to  the  affiliated  societies  of  the  church  for  consideration. 

One  cannot  repress  a  chuckle  over  the  Clerk's  record  (July  9, 
1916),  which  reads,  "At  the  quarterly  business  meeting,  held  in 
the  church  parlors,  a  goodly  number  had  assembled  and  after 
satisfying  the  needs  of  the  animal  man,  there  was  scripture  reading, 
etc."  When  this  report  was  read  at  the  next  meeting.  Rev.  Evans 
objected  to  being  reminded  that  man  is  an  animal. 

Apparently  the  budget  system  presented  difficulties,  for  Mr. 
Evans  pointed  out  a  discrepancy  of  $289,  but  according  to  the 
records,  "after  recess,  there  was  only  $82  shortage."  The  minister 
was  asked  to  help  straighten  out  the  budget  system,  which  appar- 
ently proved  too  complicated  for  some  of  the  members. 

The  Dorcas  Society,  which  was  formed  by  the  younger  members 
of  the  Ladies'  Aid  in  1914,  made  its  first  report  at  the  annual 
meeting,  January  3,  1917.  Thereafter,  the  annual  report  of  the 
Dorcas  was  a  highlight  at  the  yearly  meetings.  The  last  mention 
of  Ladies'  Aid  appeared  in  January  1943. 

The  estimated  budget  for  the  year  1919  was  $1,749.50,  with  the 
notation  that  the  church  raised  $2,784  the  previous  year,  including 
the  amount  paid  on  the  debt  on  the  parsonage,  incurred  by  remod- 
eling. "We  all  rejoice  that  the  debt  is  paid,"  the  Clerk  states 
with  pride. 

In  Rev.  Evans'  desire  to  organize  the  church  finances  on  a  bus- 
iness like  basis,  he  was  outspoken  and  aggressive.  His  plan  for  a 
budget  system  caused  confusion,  and  his  suggestion  that  the  mon- 
eys of  the  church  go  through  three  hands,  the  pastor's,  the  clerk's 
and  the  treasurer's,  for  a  complete  checkup  was  new.  The  trea- 
surer resigned,  and,  for  the  first  time  the  record  shows  an  audit  of 
the  books.  At  the  same  time.  Rev.  Evans  gave  a  short  personal 
talk  "apropos  to  his  relations  with  the  church."  His  fourth  year 
as  pastor  terminated  Jan.  1,  1920.  From  here,  the  Evans  went  to 
Lander  where  Mrs.  Evans  died  not  long  afterwards.  It  is  believed 
that  the  Evans  came  to  Wyoming  because  of  her  health. 

A  singular  incident  occurred  in  March.  Rev.  Will  R.  Johnson 
preached  his  "trial  sermons"  and  wrote  a  letter  stating  the  condi- 
tions on  which  he  might  accept  the  pastorate,  all  of  which  were 
met  with  the  exception  of  his  request  for  a  Detroit  "Vapo"  stove. 
In  an  undated  entry  prior  to  July  6,  we  learn  that  Mr.  Johnson 


WHEATLAND'S  FIRST  CHURCH  25 

declined  the  call  "for  reasons  which  he  considered  good  and  suffi- 
cient," and  he  recommended  a  friend  to  take  his  place,  Rev. 
Charles  A.  Nash  (May  9,  1920— Oct.  1,  1922)  of  Waterloo,  la. 
Rev.  Nash,  an  Australian  by  birth,  was  the  first  minister  hired 
sight  unseen.  He  proved  to  be  tall,  good  looking  and  shy.  He  was 
quiet  spoken  and  well  liked.    The  Nashs  had  no  children. 

Rev.  Nash  was  instrumental  in  having  the  local  church  adopt 
the  Constitution  of  the  national  organization  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  place  of  the  one  being  used.  He  also  introduced  the 
envelope  system  for  collections.  Further,  in  February  1922,  he 
stated  a  willingness  to  accept  a  cut  of  $200  in  salary  for  the  re- 
mainder of  the  year.    This  naturally  added  to  his  popularity. 

The  bleakness  of  the  '20's  was  apparent  when,  in  July  1922, 
the  minutes  of  the  church  Clerk  read,  "The  following  motion  was 
made  and  approved:  That  the  constituency  of  the  church  be 
notified  that  the  doors  of  the  church  will  be  closed  in  three  months' 
time  unless  some  means  can  be  found  to  finance  it  to  the  end  of 
the  year."  Upon  Mr.  Nash's  resignation  in  October,  he  was  again 
offered  the  pulpit  at  a  reduction  in  salary,  which  he  declined. 
Times  were  so  pressing,  it  was  decided  that,  rather  than  pay  a 
minister,  the  church  should  pay  $10  a  Sunday  for  a  substitute 
preacher  and  rent  the  parsonage  for  a  year. 

Several  plans  were  proposed,  namely  ( 1  )  sharing  a  minister 
with  Glendo,  not  advisable  because  of  financial  reasons;  (2)  merg- 
ing the  Christian,  Baptist  and  Congregational  churches  with  one 
minister  serving  the  three,  not  feasible  for  many  reasons.  Rev. 
McCracken,  from  a  mission  in  South  Dakota,  and  Rev.  Paxton, 
who  had  continued  to  live  on  his  homestead  east  of  Wheatland, 
served  as  substitutes,  with  Mr.  Paxton  being  called  back  to  the 
pulpit  December  1,  1923,  this  time  serving  a  period  of  two  years. 

While  the  budget  of  1921  had  called  for  $3,250,  it  now  (De- 
cember 1924)  was  down  to  $2,250.  The  following  year  Mr. 
Paxton  was  re-elected  but  granted  a  four  months'  vacation.  The 
interim  minister  was  a  brilliant,  young  student,  A.  Gladstone 
Finnic  of  the  New  York  Theological  Seminary,  who  "gave  us  a 
very  profitable  summer  with  excellent  sermons." 

At  the  annual  meeting  (Jan.  6,  1926),  it  was  moved  and  car- 
ried by  rising  vote  that  Mr.  Caldwell  Morrison  be  made  a  perma- 
nent Deacon  and  that  Mrs.  Morrison  be  made  permanent  Deacon- 
ess. During  the  summer,  after  Rev.  Paxton  and  his  family  moved 
to  DeLong,  111.,  the  substitute  ministers  were  W.  A.  Bunker  and 
Rev.  G.  Craig  Watt,  with  Rev.  D.  Powell  (Dec.  1,  1926 — June  1, 
1928)  accepting  the  pastorate  in  December. 

Though  the  records  do  not  show  it,  the  D  stood  for  Dalmanutha, 
according  to  one  of  his  old  friends  who  resides  at  Lusk.  He  says 
of  Mr.  Powell,  who  came  to  Wheatland  from  Jireh,  Wyoming, 
"Do  I  remember  Dalmanutha  Powell?  His  homestead  cornered 
ours.     Carpenter,  blacksmith,  farmer  and  minister — but  no  bus- 


26  ANNALS*OF  WYOMING 

iness  man.  He  died  some  twenty  years  ago  at  Worland,  where  his 
wife,  now  in  her  90's  still  lives.  He  was  a  self  taught  man,  and  he 
did  a  fair  job  of  it,  too.  Many  people  owe  more  to  'Dally'  Powell 
than  they  will  ever  know."  He  was  a  pastor  at  Jireh  Church  which 
served  the  college  by  that  name. 

Mention  of  Jireh  College  evokes  fond  memories  among  some 
of  the  older  residents  of  the  Manville-Lusk  area.  It  was  a  small 
denominational  college  (Christian),  founded  in  1908  and  dedi- 
cated in  1909.  It  had  a  good  teaching  staff,  offering  a  complete 
Course  for  high  school  and  the  first  two  years  of  college — art, 
music,  the  sciences.  The  Language  course  was  said  to  have  been 
one  of  the  best  ever  offered  in  Wyoming.  While  the  campus 
boasted  of  two  buildings  and  about  200  acres  of  land,  there  were 
probably  never  more  than  75  or  80  students.  Financial  condi- 
tions during  World  War  I  forced  the  closing  of  the  school. 

Although  Mr.  Powell  received  only  $1,500  a  year,  the  next 
minister.  Rev.  Robert  Hoffman  (Sept.  1,  1928 — Sept.  27,  1929), 
of  Chicago,  was  offered  the  pastorate  at  $2,000,  indicating  that 
times  might  be  improving,  though  how  much  he  actually  received 
is  not  clear.  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Hoffman  had  seven  children,  the 
largest  family  ever  to  occupy  the  parsonage.  He  resigned  a  year 
later  with  his  resignation  taking  effect  at  once,  rather  than  three 
months  later,  which  had  long  been  a  custom.  He  is  said  to  have 
left  the  ministry  to  become  a  prison  chaplain. 

Rev.  Riley  E.  Morgan  (Dec.  1,  1929— Apr.  1,  1936),  of  Tren- 
ton, Nebr.,  was  next  called  at  a  salary  of  $1,800,  with  transpor- 
tation and  moving  expenses  allowed,  not  to  exceed  $100.  Mr. 
Morgan  remained  as  faithful  pastor  of  the  church  more  than  six 
years  at  substantial  cuts  in  salary.  The  drouth  of  the  early  '30's 
was  as  telling  on  the  church  finances  as  the  depression  of  the 
'20's.  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Morgan  reside  in  Boulder,  Colo.,  and  their 
talented  daughter,  Rachel,  is  secretary  to  the  president  of  a  college 
in  Atlanta,  Ga. 

In  one  of  his  recent  letters.  Rev.  Morgan  pays  tribute  to  the 
choir  of  the  Wheatland  Congregational  Church.  "All  the  years 
my  family  and  I  were  with  the  church,  the  choir  seemed  to  us  to 
be  the  outstanding  phase  of  the  work.  I  believe  all  would  agree 
with  me  that  the  choir  under  Mrs.  Natwick  and  Tom  Hunton 
made  a  distinct  contribution  to  the  influence  of  the  church.  To  me 
it  always  seemed  to  be  a  leavening  influence  for  good  in  the  com- 
munity. The  congregation  always  rallied  around  the  choir.  Good 
music  well  sung  gets  pretty  close  to  the  heart  of  religion,  so  it 
seems  to  me.  And  that  is  what  we  always  got  from  our  choir, 
whether  Mrs.  Natwick  or  Tom  Hunton  was  responsible  for  direct- 
ing the  music.  When  the  Yuletide  came,  the  music  was  appro- 
priate to  the  season,  likewise  when  Easter  came.  Those  two 
seasons  have  always  been  great  occasions  in  the  life  of  the  church, 
and  I  trust  that  they  may  be  so  always." 


WHEATLAND'S  FIRST  CHURCH  27 

Th3  salary  offered  the  next  minister,  Rev.  L.  W.  Flenner  (June 
1,  1936 — Sept.  1,  1942),  still  indicates  hard  times.  He  was 
offered  $1,200  and  $100  for  moving  expenses.  The  parsonage 
became  the  meeting  place  for  all  of  the  children  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, as  the  Flenners  had  a  way  with  young  people.  When  Rev. 
Flenner  made  his  report  at  the  annual  meeting  in  January  1942, 
he  gave  a  brief  summary  of  the  history  of  the  church,  which  was 
entered  in  the  records.  In  it  he  says,  "Although  there  is  no 
definite  record,  this  church  must  have  ceased  from  missionary  aid 
some  time  in  1917." 

In  August,  Rev.  Flenner  tendered  his  resignation  with  the  re- 
quest that  he  be  released  by  the  first  of  September  so  that  the 
family  might  reach  their  new  charge  in  Oregon  in  time  for  the 
opening  of  school  and  college.  Ellen  and  Bud  Flenner,  who  were 
graduated  from  Wheatland  High  School,  later  received  their  de- 
grees from  Pacific  University  in  Forest  Grove,  Ore.  They  and 
their  younger  sister,  Betty,  are  married  and  live  in  the  state  of 
Oregon.    Rev.  and  Mrs.  Flenner  reside  at  Cornelius. 

He  writes,  "Our  years  in  Wheatland  were  some  of  the  happiest 
we  ever  spent  in  any  parish,  and  our  children  all  hold  fond  mem- 
ories of  those  years  and  were  very  unhappy  when  we  left.  I  have 
thought  often  of  the  people  of  the  church  and  also  many  others 
that  I  was  able  to  minister  to,  especially  in  time  of  the  death  of 
someone  in  the  family.  We  have  been  very  happy  to  know  that 
the  church  has  progressed  since  we  left  there  and  wish  for  it  the 
very  best  in  years  to  come." 

Rev.  Clifford  S.  Higby  (Nov.  15,  1942— Apr.  19,  1945),  of 
Hemingford,  Nebr.,  was  called  at  the  same  salary,  with  $40  toward 
moving  expenses  and  a  promise  of  a  clean  and  repaired  parsonage. 
His  ordination  service  was  held  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Wyo- 
ming Conference  at  Wheatland,  June  2,  1943. 

A  notation  in  November  of  that  year  states  that  the  members 
and  friends  of  the  church  gathered  in  the  church  parlors  for  a 
covered  dish  supper  honoring  Mrs.  Esther  Morrison,  "our  only 
living  charter  member"  on  her  birthday.  While  she  was  deserving 
of  all  honor  accorded  her,  it  should  have  read  that  she  was  the 
only  living  charter  member  still  residing  in  Wheatland.  Appar- 
ently, the  church  had  not  kept  in  touch  with  the  Niner  family. 

The  reminiscences  of  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Higby,  of  Boulder,  Colo., 
will  be  found  in  the  complete  history  of  the  church.  Because  of 
lack  of  space,  we  are  able  to  quote  only  a  few  excerpts  from  Rev. 
Higby's  most  interesting  account. 

My  memory  of  Wyoming  Congregationalism  goes  back  to  the  '90's, 
when  the  state  superintendent  would  stop  at  our  sod  house  on  the 
homestead.  First,  there  was  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lyman —  he  of  the  tre- 
mendously big  black  beard.  No  face  at  all  except  eyes,  nose  and 
ears!  How  could  he  eat?  My  brother  and  I  forgot  our  food  to  watch 
the  feat!     And  he  made  it!     The  big  black  mustache  curled  out  and 


28  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

up,  and  way  under  there  was  a  big  red  mouth.  Then  there  was  my 
hero,  Dr.  W.  B.  D.  Gray.  He  was  missionary  superintendent  a  long 
time,  and  he  visited  us  on  the  homestead  many,  many  times.  And 
when  he  came,  my  brother  and  I  dropped  everything  and  sat  at  his 
feet  for  whatever  the  length  of  his  stay. 

Dr.  Gray  was  a  big  man,  had  been  boxing  coach  at  college.  He 
was  not  hesitant  in  using  his  fists  for  advancing  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
What  delighted  us  boys  was  Dr.  Gray's  generosity  in  sharing  in  detail 
his  adventures  since  his  last  visit.  ...  A  few  years  after  the  first  Mrs. 
Gray  died,  Dr.  Gray  married  a  very  remarkable  woman,  much  young- 
er than  he.  She  was  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational  Church  of 
Cheyenne.  As  the  years  passed  and  Dr.  Gray  began  to  fail,  Mrs. 
Gray  took  more  and  more  of  the  load,  making  many  of  the  trips  over 
the  state  by  herself. 

Rev.  Higby  tells  of  ths  active  part  his  mother,  Mrs.  Nina  W. 
Higby,  played  in  the  establishment  of  the  early  Carnegie  libraries 
in  the  state.  As  Wyoming  state  president  of  the  W.  C.  T.  U., 
she  saw  "the  curse  of  the  saloon,  but  also  the  need  it  filled  as  a 
club  room  for  idle  hours.  So  as  she  traveled  over  the  state  she 
urged  local  groups  to  provide  reading  rooms."  At  one  of  the 
national  conventions  she  attended,  she  learned  of  Carnegie's  plan 
for  public  libraries.  According  to  Rev.  Higby,  "She  wrote  to  him 
direct  and  challenged  him  with  the  need  of  Wyoming's  frontier 
folk.  It  gripped  his  imagination,  and  they  corresponded,  with  the 
result  that  Carnegie  allocated  funds  for  five  libraries  in  Wyoming, 
to  be  placed  at  mother's  suggestion.  Wheatland  was  first  on  the 
list." 

Rev.  Higby  explains  the  use  of  "Union"  in  the  names  of  various 
Presbyterian  and  Congregational  Churches  as  follows: 

As  our  mission  work  followed —  or  accompanied —  the  pioneers 
across  the  plains,  the  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  worked 
together  in  more  harmony  than  most  other  groups.  Because  of  this 
and  also  because  of  the  difference  in  administrative  control  of  the 
local  churches  in  the  two  denominations,  we  lost  to  the  Presbyterians 
approximately  fifty  churches  by  the  time  we  reached  the  Missouri 
River. 

Therefore,  it  was  agreed  between  the  two  denominations  that  where 
one  had  pioneered  in  an  area,  the  other  would  stay  out.  I  remember 
that  some  of  our  most  dependable  members  in  Wheatland  were  from 
Presbyterian  background.  The  same  no  doubt  could  be  said  of  the 
Union  Congregational  Churches  of  Green  River,  Rock  Springs,  Buf- 
falo, and  from  Douglas  east  to  the  Nebraska  line. 

Conversely,  the  opposite  probably  is  true  of  the  Union  Presbyterian 
Churches  of  Laramie,  Rawlins,  Sinclair,  Saratoga,  Encampment, 
Evanston,  Cody  and  many  others. 

In  January  1945,  Rev.  Higby  made  a  trip  to  Mayo's  where  his 
case  was  diagnosed  as  a  diverticulum  in  the  esophagus.  Surgery 
and  a  long  period  of  convalescence  followed. 

In  this  connection  1  want  again  to  express  our  appreciation  of  the 
many  kindnesses  shown  us  by  the  Wheatland  church  during  that  trying 
time.  I  remember  the  host  of  letters,  cards  and  good  wishes;  the 
knowledge  that  many  were  praying  in  our  behalf;  the  salary  checks 


WHEATLAND'S  FIRST  CHURCH  29 

that  came  regularly  from  January  first  when  we  went  to  Mayo's  until 
April  10,  when  I  resigned  to  take  an  extended  period  of  convalescence 
in  Arizona.  How  good  it  was  to  have  Mr.  and  Mrs.  (Wick)  Hopkins 
walk  into  my  hospital  room  in  Rochester;  and  then  they  sent  me  a 
wonderful  spray  of  American  beauty  roses. 

In  addition  to  all  this,  many  gifts  came  our  way;  among  them 
checks  from  the  Sunday  School  and  Dorcas  and  two  from  individuals, 
one  for  $100  and  another  for  $50,  the  latter  all  the  way  from  Hawaii. 
Also  while  we  were  at  Mayo's  the  church  raised  my  salary  $300  a 
year.  And  when  we  came  home,  and  I  tried  to  carry  on  and  found 
I  could  not,  you  voted  (at  a  called  meeting  Sunday  morning  after 
church)  to  give  me  as  long  a  leave  of  absence  as  I  needed.  However, 
after  careful  consideration,  we  decided  that  the  only  fair  thing  to  do 
was  to  leave  the  church  free  to  call  another  minister,  so  I  resigned. 

Rev.  W.  J.  Hoare  (Sept.  24,  1945— Mar.  1,  1952),  of  Anoka, 
Minn.,  visited  Wheatland  and  filled  the  pulpit  two  Sundays  before 
being  hired  at  a  salary  of  $1,800  to  start  and  $500  for  moving 
expenses.  At  the  annual  meeting  in  '47,  Rev.  Hoare's  salary  was 
raised  to  $2,100. 

As  no  official  copy  of  the  church  Constitution  could  be  found 
in  the  records,  a  special  meeting  was  called,  Nov.  14,  1948,  with 
Rev.  Harry  W.  Johnson,  superintendent  at  large,  presiding.  The 
chairmen  of  the  boards  of  Trustees  and  Deacons  were  authorized 
to  appoint  a  committee  to  draw  up  a  new  Constitution  and  By-laws 
to  be  presented  at  the  annual  meeting.  They  were  adopted  Jan- 
uary 9,  1950,  and  a  copy  was  pasted  in  the  Clerk's  book  for 
permanent  record.  At  this  time,  a  vote  of  thanks  was  extended  to 
Wick  Hopkins  for  "time,  money  and  materials"  spent  on  repairing 
the  church  and  to  Ted  Terman  for  donating  and  installing  a 
hearing  aid  system. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  accomplishments  of  the  church  was 
the  completion  of  the  payment  on  the  Hammond  Electric  Organ, 
with  money  to  spare.  The  memorial  fund  for  the  organ,  amount- 
ing to  only  about  $750  the  year  before,  grew  miraculously.  The 
organ  committee,  composed  of  Hazelle  Ferguson  and  Margaret 
Haeberle,  reported  (Jan.  23,  '49)  that  the  organ  and  chimes  were 
paid  for  in  full  with  a  balance  on  hand  of  $68  and  approximately 
$150  yet  to  be  returned  by  the  manufacturers  of  the  organ.  A 
Memorial  Book  was  purchased,  listing  the  names  of  all  of  the 
donors,  and  the  balance  of  the  money  was  returned  to  the  Dorcas 
Society,  which  worked  hard  to  raise  the  necessary  funds. 

Rev.  Hoare  will  long  be  remembered  for  his  elaborate  pageants 
which  he  wrote  and  directed,  the  stage  settings  and  scenery  he 
painted,  and  the  many  costumes  which  he  furnished  for  the  char- 
acters who  performed.  A  native  of  Titchfield,  England,  he  served 
in  the  British  Army  for  a  time  before  coming  to  America.  He  died 
of  a  heart  attack  at  Alliance,  Nebr.,  Feb.  9,  1957. 

Rev.  Alan  Inglis  (July  1,  1952 — Jan.  1,  '57)  came  to  Wheat- 
land direct  from  the  Divinity  School  at  Yale.     He  brought  with 


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WHEATLAND'S  FIRST  CHURCH  31 

him  a  youthful  enthusiasm  and  faculty  for  organization.  Under 
his  leadership,  the  Men's  Club  and  Pilgrim  Fellowship  (the  youth 
group)  became  active  branches  of  the  church.  Rev.  Inglis,  his 
wife  and  three  children  bade  farewell  to  their  Wheatland  friends 
in  January  for  their  new  home  in  Flasher,  N.  D.,  where  Rev.  Inglis 
is  serving  five  neighboring  churches  by  means  of  an  airplane.  One 
of  his  most  difficult  assignments  in  our  church  was  his  funeral 
service  for  John  K.  Phifer,  who  was  killed  in  a  tractor  accident. 
It  was  the  fifth  accidental  death  in  the  Phif3r  familv,  as  Mr. 
Phifer's  parents.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  F.  W.  Phifer,  and  their  son,  Wood, 
and  his  wife  lost  their  lives  in  a  highway  accident  during  a  flood 
in  1935.  The  death  of  the  Phifers  was  an  irreparable  loss  to  the 
church  and  to  the  community. 

Since  Rev.  Inglis'  departure,  the  church  has  been  served  by 
Rev.  E.  D.  Forssell,  interim  minister.  Although  the  building,  the 
dream  of  the  Ladies'  Aid  which  was  made  possible  through  the 
efforts  of  Rev.  Paxton  and  many  loyal  members  and  friends,  looks 
much  the  same  on  the  exterior,  countless  changes  have  taken 
place  within.  The  basement,  with  its  modern  kitchen  and  attrac- 
tive auditorium,  now  has  a  clever  nursery,  or  "Cry  Room,"  the 
work  of  the  Dorkettes,  the  younger  branch  of  the  ever  faithful 
Dorcas  Society.  The  sanctuary,  with  its  rose  beige  walls  and  new 
light  fixtures,  has,  as  its  focal  point  of  interest,  an  intricately  carved 
cross,  the  work  of  Dr.  Bill  Rosene's  father.  In  the  background, 
rich  textured  drapes  add  warmth  and  dignity. 

The  Communion  Table,  with  its  inscription,  "In  Remembrance 
of  Me,"  brings  back  hallowed  memories  of  the  Dast,  for  it  was  a 
gift  of  the  W.  B.  D.  Grays. 

In  concluding  the  story  of  the  Union  Congregational  Church  of 
Wheatland,  we  would  like  to  borrow  a  statement  from  Rev.  Flen- 
ner's  report  at  the  annual  meeting  fifteen  years  ago.  "Back  of 
this  brief  record  is  the  unrecorded  story  of  happiness  and  sorrow, 
accomplishments  and  failure,  hopes  realized  and  hopes  thwarted. 
Through  it  all  runs  the  bright  thread  of  loyalty  to  the  church  and 
to  the  loving  God  that  it  represents." 


Zfie  Old  ehurck* 

By 

Helen  Cook 

I  like  to  sit  alone  in  the  old  church  before  the  others  come,  the 
cheerful  throng  who  seek  their  favorite  pews  and  join  in  prayer  and 
make  the  echoes  ring  with  hearty  song. 

I  said,  "Alone."  Yet,  I  am  not  alone.  Another  congregation 
gathers  here;  their  presence  seems  to  fill  the  shadowed  room;  their 
rusthng  footsteps  stir  the  quiet  air. 

It  seems  I  hear  once  more  the  dear  old  hymns,  forgotten  now,  the 
ones  they  loved  the  best.  I  hear  the  feeble  tones  of  white  haired 
saints,  and  sweet  young  voices  mingle  with  the  rest. 

And  now  His  table's  spread,  and  through  the  years  old  elders  come 
again  to  humbly  pray  and  serve  the  loaf  and  cup  with  gnarled 
hands  and  trembling  reverence  in  the  age-old  way. 

The  pulpit  rings  anew  with  passioned  pleas,  young  preachers  set 
on  fire  by  holy  flame.  With  penetential  tears,  the  converts  come 
and  here  are  born  anew  in  Jesus'  name. 

And  now  the  scene  is  one  of  solemn  joy.  In  come  virgin  brides 
with  measured  tread,  and  now  the  sorrowing.  His  comfort  find, 
and  bravely  here  earth's  last  farewell  is  said. 

Yes,  this  old  church  is  holy  ground  to  me.  Each  crumbling  stone, 
the  steps  for  decades  trod,  the  aisles,  the  pews  are  hallowed  by  the 
faith  our  fathers  had,  who  here  have  worshipped  God. 


*  Reprinted  by  permission. 


Portrait  oj  an  'Vrdimry''  Woman 

SUza  Stewart  ^oyd 

By 

Clarice  Whittenburg 

"Miss  Stewart,  you  have  the  honor  of  being  the  first  woman 
ever  called  upon  to  serve  on  a  court  jury!"  Sheriff  N.  K.  Boswell 
announced  to  the  thunderstruck  little  schoolmistress  who  answered 
his  knock. 

The  time  was  March  9,  1870.  The  place  was  Wyoming  Terri- 
tory, town  of  Laramie.  The  leading  lady  was  37-year-old  Eliza 
Stewart  who  had  come  alone  to  the  Territory  a  little  more  than  a 
year  before  from  her  birthplace  at  Evansburg,  Crawford  County, 
Pennsylvania.  \ 

Today,  eighty-seven  years  later,  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Elwin  W. 
Condit  of  Laramie,  frequently  refers  to  her  as  "quite  an  ordinary, 
unassuming  little  woman." 

Unassuming?  Yes,  no  doubt!  Ordinary?  One  wonders!  Or- 
dinary, perhaps,  in  general  appearance.  Blue-eyed,  brown-haired, 
somewhat  short  and  stocky  of  build.  Rather  droll  in  conversation, 
yet  not  particularly  witty.  A  woman  with  a  quick  mind  and  a 
ready  memory  but  not  unlike  her  nextdoor  neighbor  in  outward 
particulars.  Measured  by  the  standards  of  her  day,  however,  what 
a  truly  adventurous  soul  she  must  have  possessed!  Alone,  she  left 
the  security  of  family  and  friends  in  an  established  eastern  state  to 
make  her  home  in  the  unknown  West.  Alone,  she  came  to  face 
a  raw,  rough,  roisterous  Wyoming  tent-and-shack  town,  so  recently 
"end  o'  track"  for  the  Union  Pacific  railway. 
'  Eliza  had  been  one  of  nine  children  in  her  Pennsylvania  home^ 
It  was  soon  after  her  fourteenth  birthday  that  her  mother  had  died.J 
Did  it  not  take  courage  for  her  to  assume,  as  the  oldest  daughter 
still  living  in  the  home,  the  job  of  caring  for  her  young  brothers 
and  sisters?  Was  it  an  easy  task  to  attain  the  honor  of  being 
valedictorian  of  the  1861  class  at  Washington  Female  Seminary  in 
Washington,  Pennsylvania?  During  several  winters  she  had  taught 
local  schools  so  that  she  might  attend  the  seminary  during  the 
following  summers. 

For  twenty-three  years  Eliza's  loyalty  to  her  family  had  held 
her  but,  when  the  first  transcontinental  railway  became  a  reality 
instead  ofa  dream,  she  had  set  her  eyes  toward  the  adventurous 


34  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

West.  Why  she  came,  or  whether  her  family  had  objected,  we 
have  no  way  of  knowing.  In  later  years  she  did  remember  with 
amusement  the  scandalized  look  on  the  face  of  the  Pennsylvania 
agent  from  whom  she  had  bought  her  railway  ticket. 

And  here  she  was,  a  full-fledged  western  schoolma'am,  one 
of  the  two  first  schoolmistresses  in  Laramie!  Not  only  a  school- 
mistress, but  also,  according  to  Sheriff  Boswell's  astounding  an- 
nouncement, the  very  first  woman  in  the  whole  world  to  be  called 
upon  to  serve  as  a  juror! 

Only  in  Wyoming  Territory  could  this  have  happened^  then  and 
there  it  had  been  made  possible  simply  because  Wyoming  had 
led  the  nation  in  1  869  by  adopting  woman  suffrage. 

Five  other  women  were  impanelled  to  serve  on  the  mixed  grand 
jury  which  met  in  March,  1 870,  at  Laramie.  They  were  Mrs. 
Amelia  Hatcher  (a  widow),  Mrs.  G.  F.  Hilton  (wife  of  a  physi- 
cian), Mrs.  Mary  Mackel  (wife  of  a  Fort  Sanders  clerk),  Mrs. 
Agnes  Baker  (wife  of  a  merchant),  and  Mrs.  Sarah  W.  Pease 
(wife  of  the  deputy  clerk  of  the  court). 

At  first  Eliza,  like  her  sister  jurors,  was  not  inclined  to  take  her 
summons  very  seriously.  Although  a  rather  ardent  advocate  of 
woman's  rights,  she  assumed  that  when  court  convened,  the  women 
jurors  would  merely  beg  to  be  excused  and  that  would  make  an 
end  to  it.  Speculation  is  still  rife  among  historians  as  to  whether 
the  original  woman  suffrage  bill  was  introduced  as  a  huge  joke, 
whether  it  was  planned  in  all  sincerity,  or  whether  it  was  intended 
largely  as  an  advertising  scheme. 

Chief  Justice  Howe,  who  presided  over  that  first  mixed  jury, 
had  definite  ideas  of  his  own.  He  overruled  the  prosecuting  attor- 
ney's challenge  to  the  six  "good  women  and  true."  When  they 
had  been  impanelled,  sworn  and  charged,  along  with  their  six  male 
contemporaries,  he  addressed  them  all  in  stirring  tones  as  "Ladies 
and  Gentlemen  of  the  Grand  Jury!"  He  insisted  there  was  no 
impropriety  in  women  serving  as  jurors.  He  promised  that  they 
would  receive  the  full  protection  of  the  court.  He  declared  that 
the  eyes  of  the  world  were  focused  upon  them. 

How  very  true!  Within  twenty-four  hours.  King  William  of 
Prussia  cabled  a  congratulatory  message  to  President  Grant.  Re- 
porters and  artists  from  far  and  near  swarmed  into  Laramie  with 
their  pencils  and  their  crayons.  Eliza  and  her  five  women  com- 
panions were  amazed  and  hurt  to  find  they  were  the  objects  of 
barbed  ridicule  in  the  nation's  press.  Cartoons  and  couplets  in 
the  illustrated  weeklies  were  the  cause  of  much  laughter  throughout 
the  land. 

!  Heavily  veiled,  and  refusing  to  be  photographed,  the  six  women 
went  to  and  from  the  court.  They  served  with  dignity  for  three 
weeks  on  cases  which  involved  horse  and  cattle  stealing,  illegal 
branding  and  murder.  The  effect  upon  the  male  jurors  was  indeed 
startling!  Gambling  and  drinking  (common  practice  among  them), 


PORTRAIT   OF   AN    'ORDINARY"   WOMAN  35 

even  smoking  and  chewing,  were  inhibited.  In  a  later  written 
statement,  Chief  Justice  Howe  commended  the  women  foj  their 
"careful,  painstaking,  intelligent  and  conscientious"  attitude. 

Once  more  a  private  citizen,  Eliza  Stewart  rejoined  her  fellow- 
teacher,  a  Miss  Sophronia  Vaughn,  in  instructing  the  youth  of 
Laramie.  Together,  in  one  unplastered  room,  these  two  women 
had  opened  the  town's  first  public  school  in  1869  with  63  pupils 
enrolled.  Inside  of  three  months  the  enrollment  had  numbered 
117. 

Miss  Stewart's  reminiscences  of  the  first  schoolhouse  relate  how 
a  calico  ball  provided  the  roof.  When  finances  ran  out  before 
the  building  was  covered,  the  ladies  of  the  community  came  to 
the  rescue  by  planning  a  dance.  The  one  dressmaker  in  town 
sent  out  calls  for  outside  help  in  making  yards  and  yards  of 
ruffling  necessary  for  the  calico  creations  she  designed. 

The  ball  was  a  success  and  the  roof  was  raised  but,  alas,  the 
school  board  had  overlooked  the  need  for  textbooks!  Old  trunks 
in  the  homes  of  the  pupils  were  searched  for  books  and  the  two 
schoolma'ams  wrote  all  of  their  assignments  on  the  blackboard. 

Both  ladies  began  to  feel  their  services  deserved  much  more 
compensation  than  the  fifty  dollars  per  month  for  which  they  had 
contracted.  After  some  haggling,  they  received  the  promise  of  an 
extra  twenty-five  dollars  monthly  but  the  promise  did  not  mater- 
ialize. The  tax  collector  suddenly  left  town  forever  after  embez- 
zling some  of  the  funds  entrusted  to  his  care. 

The  year  1870  was  indeed  a  memorable  one  for  Eliza  Stewart. 
It  was  on  July  2 1  that  she  married  Stephen  Boyd,  who  had  moved 
from  his  native  home  at  Oxford  Mills,  Ontario,  Canada,  to  a 
location  on  the  Platte  River  near  Denver  in  May,  1868.  Their 
marriage  took  place  in  Cheyenne  and  the  ceremony  was  performed 
by  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Kephardt,  a  pioneer  Presbyterian  minister  of 
that  city. 

The  couple  decided  to  make  Laramie  their  permanent  home. 
Mr.  Boyd  served  first  as  a  Union  Pacific  fireman  and  later  as  a 
machinist  in  the  railway  shops  there. 

The  first  of  their  three  daughters  died  in  infancy.  The  other 
two  were  reared  in  their  native  town. 

Eliza  Stewart  Boyd's  name  appears  again  and  again  in  the  writ- 
ten accounts  of  Laramie's  early  history.  When  the  Wyoming 
Library  and  Literary  Association  was  organized  in  1870,  she 
became  its  first  secretary.  Five  vears  later  the  association  boasted 
of  a  library  containing  "1000  volumes  of  standard,  scientific  and 
literary  books,  besides  nearly  all  of  the  best  magazines  and  per- 
iodicals of  the  day." 

In  August,  1873,  sixty  Albany  County  women  published  a  call 
for  a  mass  meeting  to  nominate  a  candidate  for  the  legislature.  At 
this  meeting  Eliza  Stewart  Boyd  was  asked  to  serve  as  secretary^  ( 


36  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

She  and  Mrs.  Esther  Hobart  Morris  were  drafted  as  candidates 
for  the  state  House  of  Representatives  from  the  new  Woman's 
Party.  Mrs.  Morris  withdrew  her  name  before  the  end  of  the 
month.  Mrs.  Boyd's  name  remained  on  the  ticket  but  she  received 
only  five  votes  and  the  Woman's  party  died  a  natural  death  within 
a  month. 

As  a  charter  member  of  the  Laramie  Presbyterian  Church  and 
Missionary  Society,  Mrs.  Boyd's  community  endeavors  were  far 
more  successful.  Both  she  and  her  husband  gave  their  church  a 
consistent,  wholehearted  support  throughout  their  lives. 

In  spite  of  her  outside  activities,  at  no  time  did  she  neglect  her 
home.  If  no  more  urgent  or  strenuous  home  duty  demand  her 
attention,  she  could  be  found,  sitting  near  the  window,  placidly 
piecing  quilts  or  knitting  garments  for  her  little  family. 

Although  several  visits  were  exchanged  with  her  eastern  brothers 
and  sisters  and  she  regretted  the  distance  which  normally  lay 
between  them,  her  adopted  West  claimed  her  as  its  own. 

In  later  life  she  joined  "The  60  Club,"  a  group  of  pioneer 
Laramie  women  who  had  reached  the  age  of  60  and  enjoyed  meet- 
ing purely  for  pleasure. 

A  fall  on  a  slippery  pavement  in  her  seventy-ninth  year  caused 
a  fractured  hip  and  rendered  Mrs.  Boyd  helpless.  Death  came  to 
her  a  few  mornings  later,  on  March  9,  1912,  to  be  exact,  just  42 
years  from  the  day  Sheriff  Boswell  had  announced,  "Miss  Stewart, 
you  have  the  honor ." 

An  ordinary  pioneer  woman!  One  wonders  what  a  truly  extra- 
ordinary woman  of  her  day  would  have  been  like. 

SELECTED  REFERENCES 

Articles 

Pease,  Sarah  Wallace,  "Women  as  Jurors,"  Cheyenne  Daily  Sun-Leader, 
November  28,  1895,  p.  7.  (Reprint  in  Collections  of  the  Wyoming 
Historical  Society,  Vol.  I,  1897,  pp.  240-246.) 

Books 

Beach,  Cora  M.,  Women  of  Wvomin^^,  Casper:  S.  E.  Boyer  and  Co.,  1927, 

pp.  24-25. 
Hebard,  Grace  Raymond,  The  First  Woman  Jury,  Laramie,  1913. 
Linford,  Velma,  Wyoming  Frontier  State,  Denver:  The  Old  West  Publishing 

Company,  1947,  pp.  221-22. 
Trigg,  J.  H.,  History  and  Directory  of  Laramie  City,   Wyoming  Territory, 

Laramie  City:  Daily  Sentinel  Print,  1875,  p.  47. 

Interviews 

Condit,  Mrs.  Elwyn  W.,  Laramie,  Wyoming,  January  23,  1954;  January  26, 
1954,  January  30,  1954. 


PORTRAIT   OF   AN    "ORDINARY"   WOMAN  37 

Newspapers 

Denver  Post,  March  9,  1912. 

Laramie  Daily  Boomerang,  February  22,    1912;  March  fe4§1912;  March  9, 

1912.       '  ■* 

Laramie  Daily  Bulletin,  October  29,  1929;  October  12,  1938;  November  17, 

1948. 
Laramie  Republican-Boomerang,  March  5,   1929;   March  22,    1929;   March 

26,  1943. 
Laramie  Weekly  Sentinel,  January  25,   1890. 

Unpublished  Material  '♦ 

Chapman,  Miriam  Gantz,  "The  Story  of  Woman  Suffrage  "in  Wyoming, 
1869-1890",  Unpublished  Master's  thesis,  Graduate  School,  University 
of  Wyoming,  August,  1952,  pp.  21-30. 


Fourth  Duke  of  Bedford  by  Thomas 
Gainsborough.     Courtesy  British  In- 
formation Services 


Bishop    W.    B.    Preston.      Courtesy 

Church    of  Jesus   Christ   of   Latter- 

Day  Saints,  Salt  Lake  City 


Mford  amd  Jts  J^amesakes 

By 
Kenneth  E.  Crouch 

"Go  west,  young  man,  go  west"  led  a  son  of  the  Blue  Ridge 
Mountains  of  Virginia  to  Utah  and  Wyoming  where  he  became 
a  prominent  leader  in  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day 
Saints  (Mormons)  and  founded  a  settlement  in  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains of  Wyoming  which  he  named  in  honor  of  his  native  Bedford 
County,  Virginia,  because  of  the  similarities  in  scenic  mountains 
and  farming  interests. 

William  Bowker  Preston  was  born  Nov.  24,  1830,  in  Bedford 
County,  Virginia,  a  son  of  Christopher  and  Martha  Mitchell  Clay- 
tor  Preston  who  were  married  in  Bedford  County,  Virginia,  Dec. 
20,  1824. 

In  1852  he  settled  as  a  farmer  in  Yole  County,  California,  and 
in  February,  1857,  was  baptised  into  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
of  Latter-day  Saints. 

Settling  in  Payson,  Utah,  he  colonized  the  Cache  Valley  and 


BEDFORD   AND   ITS   NAMESAKES  39 

was  among  the  principal  founders  of  Logan,  Utah.     On  Nov.  14, 
1859,  he  was  ordained  Bishop  of  Logan. 

Bishop  Preston  in  1871  was  named  vice  president  and  assistant 
superintendent  of  the  Utah  and  Northern  Railroad.  At  the  general 
conference  April  6,  1884,  he  was  named  the  fourth  presiding 
bishop  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints  and 
retained  that  position  until  December,  1907,  when  he  was  released 
because  of  ill  health.    He  died  Aug.  3,  1908. 

On  Feb.  24,  1858,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Harriet  A.  Thatcher 
of  California.  He  represented  Cache  County  in  the  General 
Asembly  of  the  Utah  Territorial  Legislature  in  1862-1864,  1872, 
1876,  1878,  1880  and  1882. 

From  1865  to  1868,  Bishop  Preston  was  on  a  mission  in 
England  for  the  Mormon  church  conference.  From  1901  to  1907 
he  was  vice  president  of  the  State  Bank  of  Utah. 

About  1 877  part  of  the  Salt  River  Valley  on  the  Idaho-Wyoming 
border,  now  in  the  Bedford  area,  was  used  'as  a  herd  ground  for 
cattle  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints.  Bishop 
Preston  advised  the  young  men  herding  the  cattle  to  take  up  land 
in  the  locality  and  with  his  son,  W.  B.  Preston,  Jr.,  and  three  other 
men  he  was  the  first  to  take  up  land  there. 

The  first  two  houses  were  built  at  the  expense  of  Bishop  Preston 
on  Strawberry  Creek,  about  a  half-mile  east  of  the  present  town- 
site.    The  permanent  settlement  of  Bedford  took  place  in  1 890. 

The  main  industry  in  the  Salt  River  range  is  dairying  and  sheep 
raising  with  forests  being  abundant.  North  of  Bedford,  Wyoming, 
in  the  Wyoming  range  is  10,143  foot  Virginia  Peak. 

When  it  came  to  naming  the  new  Wyoming  town.  Bishop 
Preston  suggested  that  it  be  named  for  his  old  home  in  Virginia. 
Mrs.  Frane  Wilkes,  a  grand-daughter  of  Bishop  Preston,  and  her 
husband  live  on  the  Preston  estate  at  Bedford,  Wyoming. 

Bedford  County,  Virginia,  was  formed  in  1754  from  Lunen- 
burg County  with  New  London  as  the  county  seat.  When  Camp- 
bell County  was  formed  the  village  of  New  London  was  included 
in  that  area  and  Liberty  in  1782  was  established  as  the  county 
seat  of  Bedford.  Liberty  was  incorporated  in  1839,  the  name 
changed  to  Bedford  City  in  1890  and  to  Bedford  in  1912. 

It  is  famous  for  the  location  near  Forest  of  "Poplar  Forest", 
the  summer  home  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  The  scenic  Blue  Ridge 
Mountains  form  the  northern  boundary  of  the  county  and  in  this 
range  is  included  the  famous  twin  Peaks  of  Otter,  4,001  foot  Flat 
Top  and  3,875  foot  Sharp  Top. 

Bedford  County,  Virginia,  was  named  for  John  Russell,  the 
fourth  Duke  of  Bedford.  He  was  Secretary  of  State  of  England 
for  the  Southern  Department  (which  was  responsible  for  the 
British  colonies)  from  Feb.  13,  1747-48  to  June,  1751. 

Bedford,  Wyoming,  according  to  1950  census  figures,  is  the 


40 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


smallest  of  the  eighteen  places  bearing  that  irame  in  the  United 
States.    The  places  so  named  are  as  follows: 


Location 


Population     Founded    For  Whom  Named 


Indiana 

New  York 

Michigan 

Ohio 

Virginia 

Pennsylvania 

New  Hampshire 

Iowa 

Massachusetts 

Kentucky 

Texas 

Wyoming 


Bedford 

12,562  1825  Bedford  County,  Tennessee 

10,888  1681  Bedford,  England 

9,213  1837  Man  named  Bedford 

9, 1 05  1813  Bedford,  New  York 

4,061  1782  John  Russell,  Duke  of  Bedford 

3,521  1751  John  Russell,  Duke  of  Bedford 

2,400  1750  John  Russell,  Duke  of  Bedford 

2,000  1853  Bedford,  England,  or  a  surveyor 

1,407  1647  Probably  Bedford,  England 

533  1816  Gunning  Bedford,  Jr. 

450  1876  Bedford  County,  Tennessee 

374  1890  Bedford  County,  Virginia 

Bedford  Hills 


New  York  11,000      1680      Probably  Bedford,  England 


Massachusetts  109,189 
Pennsylvania  650 

Illinois  200 

Ohio  125 


Ohio 


40 


New  Bedford 

1652  John  Russell,  Duke  of  Bedford 

1818  Dr.  Nathaniel  Bedford 

1834  Ford  across  the  river 

1825  Bedford  County,  Pennsylvania 

West  Bedford 

1817      Bedford  County,  Pennsylvania 


There  are  three  counties  in  the  United  States  named  Bedford, 
they  are  as  follows: 

Pennsylvania      40,775       1771       Unknown 

Virginia  29,627       1754      John  Russell,  Duke  of  Bedford 

Tennessee  23,627       1807      Capt.  Thomas  Bedford,  Jr. 

Bedfordshire,  England,  has  a  population  of  307,350,  was  found- 
ed 1011  but  the  origin  of  its  name  is  unsettled.  The  town  of 
Bedford,  England,  has  a  population  of  54,400  and  its  date  of 
founding  and  naming  is  not  known. 

There  are  Bedford's  in  Canada,  Africa  and  Australia;  varying 
from  towns  to  creeks,  rivers  bays  etc. 

Three  ships  of  the  U.  S.  Navy  have  born  the  name  Bedford, 
the  cargo  ship  USS  Bedford  Victory  (AK-231),  named  for  Bed- 
ford, Indiana;  the  USS  Perseverance  (PYC-44),  formerly  known 
as  the  Bedford  and  Condor;  and  the  USS  YP-435,  formerly  known 
as  the  Bedford. 


Zhe  Mole-'m-the-  Wall 

By 
Thelma  Gatchell  Condit 

PART  IV— THE  BIG  COW  OUTFITS 


Seventy-seven  years  ago  the  dust  of  the  trail-herds  rose  blind- 
ingly  over  the  Powder  River  Country  as  the  long  line  of  gaunt, 
sweat-caked,  thin-rumped  longhorns  moved  wearily  over  the  open 
range  lands  in  Wyoming  to  this  big  place  that  was  to  become  their 
home.  Beyond  the  trail-tracks  a  vast  grassland  stretched  away  on 
every  side  to  the  far  horizon,  its  hills  and  valleys  as  lacking  in 
identity  as  the  clouds  in  the  sky.  The  "big"  cowman  gazed  with 
joy  upon  this  scene,  for  surely  here  was  the  longed-for  land  he 
could  possess  for  the  taking — here  he  could,  with  little  output,  turn 
the  wasting  grass  into  beef  on  the  hoof  and  build  a  vast  fortune. 

There  was  something  distinctly  elemental,  something  irresistibly 
impressive  about  this  scene — it  was  as  perfectly  in  harmony  with 
this  unconquered  land  as  the  buffalo  and  Indian  had  been  before 
them — for  the  longhorn  cows,  swaying  heads  hung  low  and  nostrils 
wide-flung  for  the  smell  of  water,  were  as  restless  and  wild  as  the 
buffalo  they  were  to  supplant;  and  who  could  better  cope  with 
them  in  this  rugged  Powder  River  country  than  the  grimy,  hard- 
riding,  hard-shooting  punchers  who  were  as  tough  and  capable 
and  as  untamed  in  spirit  as  the  valuable  horseflesh  under  them. 

However,  the  "big"  cattleman  though  possessing  both  money 
and  brains,  didn't  know  then  that,  even  as  our  last  great  frontiers- 
man, his  try  at  holding  this  Powder  River  country  was  to  prove  as 
futile  as  the  Indians,  and  that  after  a  brief  period  of  intoxicating 
profits  and  high  adventure  he,  too,  was  destined  to  follow  the 
Indian  over  the  horizon. 

From  the  beginning  the  Middle  Fork  of  the  Powder  River 
country  has  held  a  strange  fascination  for  beast  and  man.  It  is 
almost  unbelievable  that  the  first  "big"  cattlemen  on  the  Powder 
were  English  noblemen,  who  loved  this  wild  land  as  much  as  did 
the  Indian.  In  1878  the  Frewen  Brothers,  Moreton  and  Richard, 
younger  sons  of  a  socially  prominent  south  England  family,  came 
here  to  hunt  "big  game."  Being  adventure-loving,  mettlesome  men 
they  became  so  intrigued  with  the  wild  beauty  of  this  place  that 
they  stayed  to  found  the  first  big  cow  outfit  and  to  build  a  home. 


1.  The  old  NH  ranch  of  Plunkett  and  Roche  at  mouth  of  Beaver  Creek 
Canyon. 

2.  NH  ranch  house,  old  hired  man  and  dog 

3.  Old  Bar  C  ranch  house  (Peters  and  Alston) 

4.  Cowboys  gambling  in  old  NH  ranch  bunk  house,  playing  poker 

5.  NH  corral  and  "weaner  calves",  showing  how  cattle  of  Johnson  County 
have  been  improved  since  the  1800's. 

— Courtesy  Thelma  Gatchell  Condit 


THE   HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  43 

They  formed  the  Powder  River  Cattle  Company — branding  the 
76.^ 

The  site  of  their  home,  called  Frewen  Castle,  is  4  miles  below 
Kaycee  on  the  north  bank  of  Middle  Fork,  a  little  east  of  the 
junction  of  the  North  and  Middle  Forks.  It  is  possible  today  to 
stand  there  and  feel  as  the  Frewens  felt  as  they  gazed  upon  the 
scene,  even  though  the  castle  itself  and  the  brief  grandeur  it  repre- 
sented are  themselves  gone;  for  there  is  nothing  even  now  to 
detract  from  the  lonely  beauty  of  the  spot. 

What  an  ideal  place  for  a  cattle  ranch,  with  the  wide,  richly- 
grassed  valley  near  at  hand  over  which  wild  game  wandered  at 
will;  and  what  a  magnificent  place  to  stir  the  imagination,  with 
the  shining  Big  Horn  Mountains  in  the  near  distance  to  the  west, 
whose  mysterious  beauty  stood  forever  a  challenge  to  the  inner 
man,  bringing  forth  longings  to  be  and  to  do  great  things.  It  was 
a  perfect  setting  for  both  pleasure  and  business. 

So  it  was  that  southern  Johnson  County  became  the  headquar- 
ters of  two  large,  foreign-owned  cattle  companies;  for,  it  is 
believed,  the  Frewens'  glowing  tales  of  the  Powder  River  country 
with  its  virgin  ranges  and  bench  lands  of  native  grasses  enticed  the 
wealthy  Sir  Horace  Plunkett,  a  widely  and  favorably  known  Irish 
leader  and  member  of  the  English  Parliament  (son  of  Lord 
Dunsany)  to  come  to  Wyoming  in  1879  and  establish  himself 
on  a  ranch  behind  the  red  wall  in  partnership  with  other  young 
Irishmen,  including  Beau  Watson,  and  Alexis  and  Edmond  Roche, 
brothers  of  Lord  Fermoy.  This  became  the  Union  Cattle  Com- 
pany— branding  the  NH.  (The  site  of  the  former  L.  R.  A.  Condit 
ranch — now  the  Harry  Roberts  ranch  [[)  outfit] ) 

+ 

And  thus  it  came  to  pass,  however  fantastic  it  may  seem,  that 
this  red  wall  country  became  for  a  short  time  the  setting  for  an 
elegant  social  whirl  similar  to  the  gay  English  society  to  which 
these  noblemen  belonged.  The  Frewens  built  themselves  a  famous 
two-story  log  mansion  with  huge  fireplaces  and  mantels  and  wind- 
ing stairways,  (reminiscent  of  the  stately  English  homes)  whose 
luxurious  furnishings  were  imported  and  brought  by  mule-team 
from  Rock  Creek,  the  nearest  railroad  point  (near  Laramie). 
Practically  all  the  high-ranking  nobility  of  that  time  were  enter- 
tained here,  with  gay  parties  and  balls  and  thrilling  big-game  hunts 
in  the  Big  Horns.  \ 

The  Frewens'  ranching  business  was  as  enormous  as  their  social 
life  was  gay;  they  ran  between  60,000  and  70,000  head  of  cattle 
and  employed  over  75  cowboys.  It  took  nothing  less  than  plain 
audacity  to  commence  operations  on  such  a  grandiose  scale  here 


\.  The   76   brand  had   a  personal   significance,   representing   the   year 
Moreton  first  came  to  America — 1876. 


44  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

in  the  midst  of  this  -emptiness,  in  a  place  whose  only  occupants 
were  wandering  tribes  of  Indians,  with  an  attitude  not  entirely 
friendly,  and  old  rugged  trappers  and  prospectors  and  rough 
outlaw  characters  whose  reactions  were  never  predictable.  How- 
ever the  Frewens  dispensed  their  fancy  imported  canned  foods  and 
champagne  to  all  who  stopped  and  lavishly  prepared  themselves 
for  a  right  jolly  business  venture. 

In  order  to  present  a  clearer  picture  of  the  times,  it  should  not 
be  amiss  to  pause  for  a  moment  to  describe  briefly  the  notorious 
old  Powder  River  Crossing  stage  stop,  which  was  located  20  miles 
below  Frewen  Castle  (to  the  east).  It  was  situated  on  the  old 
Bozeman  Trail  crossing  of  the  Powder  on  the  east  side  of  the  river 
just  north  of  the  junction  of  the  Powder  and  Dry  Fork.  It  was 
here  (only  on  the  west  bank)  that  old  Fort  Connor  stood  at  the 
mouth  of  Dry  Fork.  Later,  after  Fort  Reno  was  abandoned,  Can- 
tonment Reno  was  established  near  the  same  place. 

Geographically  this  spot  had  been  of  importance  as  a  ''resting- 
place"  on  the  Bozeman  Trail;  for  here,  along  the  banks  of  the 
river,  were  huge,  spreading  cottonwoods  offering  welcome  shade 
after  the  glare  and  dust  of  the  trail.  Here  washings  were  done, 
equipment  repaired  and  animals  rested  and  reshod.  It  was  a 
natural  place  for  a  stage  stop  or  road  ranch  and  for  many  years 
was  a  popular  hangout  for  freighters,  trappers  and  all  the  others — 
it  being  their  only,  easily-available  contact  with  the  rest  of  the 
world. 

Powder  River  Crossing  consisted  of  a  large,  long  building, 
(store,  saloon  and  living  quarters  all  in  one)  stables  and  black- 
smith shop  and  numerous  old  dugout  cabins.'  Here  to  be  had 
were  whiskey  and  prostitutes  (who  came  and  went),  fresh  horses 
and  tobacco,  conversation  and  companionship — the  best  the  land 
afforded,  at  least.  One  can  still  locate  the  building  sites  of  the 
old  blacksmith  shop  and  saloon  from  the  now  half-buried  clutter 
of  old  bottles  and  iron  scraps  and  debris. 

Bill  Hathaway  ran  the  store  and  saloon  which  was  located 
directly  east  of  the  dry  gulch  at  the  edge  of  the  little  patch  of 
timber.  In  connection  with  his  road-ranch  operations  he  ran  quite 
a  bunch  of  horses,  for  there  was  money  to  be  made  in  supplying 
fresh  mounts  for  those  in  need  of  an  exchange.  Hathaway  was  a 
man  worthy  of  the  frontier,  strong  and  powerful  physically  and 
quite  equal  mentally  to  the  tasks  before  him.  His  saloon  arrange- 
ment was  uniquely  designed  to  fit  the  turbulent  times — the  bar 


2.  The  latter,  no  doubt  left  from  the  days  when  the  forts  were  there, 
were  made  by  building  roofs  over  excavations  in  the  ground.  Sometimes 
they  were  dug  out  of  the  side  of  a  hill  with  only  the  front  side  timbered. 
As  wood  was  hard  to  get,  such  dwellings  were  easy  to  construct  and  proved 
quite  durable  and  adequate. 


THE    HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  45 


Roundup  on  the  Powder  in  the  early  1880's.  (Picture  was  given  to  Jim 
Gotchell  by   the  daughter-in-law   of  Robert  Foote,   early  Johnson   County 

pioneer.) 

counter,  behind  which  he  always  stood  when  dispensing  his  Hquid 
wares,  was  shoulder-high,  enabling  him  at  all  times  to  have  com- 
plete command  of  the  situation.  All  men  were  requested  to  de- 
posit their  shooting-irons  behind  the  counter  when  entering,  so 
Hathaway's  gun  barrel,  thrust  over  the  top  of  the  bar,  meant 
business  in  no  uncertain  terms  and  ended  promptly  all  drunken 
disputes  without  any  danger  to  himself.  If  stern  in  disciplinary 
measures,  he  was  very  accommodating  and  considerate  otherwise, 
especially  to  transients,  allowing  them  to  spread  their  bed  rolls  on 
the  large  barroom  floor  whsn  it  was  bad  outside  and  no  other 
shelter  was  available. 

Many  interesting  things  happened  at  Powder  River  Crossing  and 
many  odd  characters  came  there  for  various  reasons.  This  story 
is  told  about  two  burly  men,  who,  though  the  best  of  friends  under 
normal  conditions,  one  night  got  into  a  violent  drunken  disagree- 
ment— whose  settlement  required  a  two-day  hand-to-hand  fight. 
Being  crude,  animal-like  fellows  neither  could  quite  outdo  the 
other — so  they  fought  inside  the  saloon,  and  they  fought  outside 
on  the  ground  and  around  the  buildings  until  both  were  thoroughly 
winded,  badly  bruised  and  bloody.  Nobody  paid  much  attention 
to  them — it  was  their  own  particular  fight — they  had  started  it,  so 
let  them  finish  it.  That  was  the  prevailing  philosophy — every  man 
for  himself.  Finally ,"one  of  the  men,  who  had  a  mad  crush  on  a 
prostitute  then  living  in  one  of  the  dugout  cabins,  came  to  the 


46  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

conclusion  that  he  was  done  for  and  was  about  to  die.  He  crawled 
over  to  the  side  of  the  store  building,  where  fumbling  around  he 
finally  found  the  end  of  an  old  wooden  beer  keg  upon  which  he 
laboriously  and  painfully  wrote  in  mournful  words  his  farewell 
message  to  "Big  Alice."  However  the  incident  did  not  end  on 
this  dramatic  note,  for  both  men  fully  recovered  and  returned  to 
their  prospecting  and  trapping  as  good  friends  as  before  with 
apparently  no  hard  feeling  between  them. 

Big  Nose  George  (the  outlaw  who  was  later  hanged  in  Rawlins) 
used  to  hang  out  around  Powder  River  Crossing.  He  used  to  stay 
for  months  at  a  time  in  a  nearby  dugout  (located  on  the  way  to 
Pumpkin  Buttes).  He  and  a  fellow  named  Tom  Welch  used  to  go 
around  together  some.  Tom  was  a  most  spectacular  person — his 
body  was  completely  tatooed  with  snakes.  He  looked  tough  and 
was  tough.  One  time  a  band  of  Shoshoni  Indians  camped  near 
the  dugout  and  one  morning  a  big  husky  buck  Indian  rode  up  and 
made  signs  that  he  was  a  pretty  tough  fellow  and  could  whip  any- 
body— just  anybody  at  all.  After  much  boasting  it  finally  was 
learned  that  he  wanted  to  sell  them  a  tanned  deer  hide  for  $3.00. 
Big  Nose  said  he'd  give  $1  and  that  was  all  he'd  give.  A  hot 
argument  ensued  during  which  the  Indian  reached  for  his  knife- 
but  George  was  too  fast  for  him  and  clobbered  him  mightily  over 
the  head  with  a  broken  wagon  spoke  he  found  laying  on  the  ground 
in  front  of  him.  Tom  and  Big  Nose  George  then  broke  the  blade 
of  his  knife  and  hit  his  gun-barrel  over  a  log,  bending  it  ruinously, 
after  which  procedure  they  revived  the  badly  bleeding  buck  by 
dashing  cold  water  on  his  face,  helped  him  onto  his  horse,  handed 
him  his  now  useless  weapons  and  headed  him  back  toward  the 
Indian  camp,  calling  loudly  after  him,  "Big  Indian  no  good!"  This 
must  have  been  convincing  for  they  never  saw  the  buck  again. 

A.  M.  Keith,  a  puncher  for  the  "76"  in  1885,  told  of  meeting 
Big  Nose  George  on  the  fall  beef  roundup  on  lower  Powder  River. 
Quote:  "We  were  caught  in  a  snow  storm  and  as  we  were  camped 
for  dinner  three  men  rode  into  camp.  One  was  very  large  and 
very  red  and  was  called  Big  Nose  George.  They  were  tough- 
looking  and  not  the  cowboy  type.  They  rode  good  horses  but 
their  saddles  and  clothes  denoted  more  of  the  trapper  or  packer 
or  bullwhacker  than  anything  else." 

Another  peculiar  character  appearing  spasmodically  at  Powder 
River  Crossing  was  an  old  Sioux  half-breed  called  "Chief  Coman- 
che." An  old-timer  described  him  thus.  "Old  Chief  Comanche 
knew  these  mountains  better  than  God  Almighty  from  Cloud's 
Peak  on  down.  He  was  about  5'  1''  tall  and  weighed  around  160 
pounds  and  was  the  roughest  man  I  ever  met  in  my  life.  Just  an 
old  tramp-mountaineer,  trapper  and  prospector — one  of  the  oldest 
human  beings  in  this  country — always  carried  his  grub  and  bedroll 
with  him  and  stayed  wherever  he  was.    He  wore  his  hair  long  and 


THE   HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  47 

never  had  a  bath  in  his  hfe.  He  told  nobody  nothin'  and  always 
had  money — he  panned  a  lot  of  gold  but  nobody  knew  where.'" 

This  was  the  Middle  Fork  of  the  Powder  in  the  late  70's,  a 
fantastic,  widely-scattered  conglomeration  of  humanity  from  the 
crudest  rascal  to  the  most  refined  gentleman,  all  coming  periodi- 
cally to  Powder  River  Crossing  for  mail  which  arrived  irregularly 
on  the  run  between  Ft.  Fetterman  and  Ft.  McKinney.  A  telegraph 
Hne  also  went  through  here.  Actually,  for  most  or  them  ths  mail 
didn't  count  for  much;  getting  tobacco  was  of  far  greater  impor- 
tance and  became  a  serious  matter  indeed  in  the  spring  of  the 
year  when  the  Powder  was  on  the  rampage.  At  that  time  even  the 
foolhardy  thought  twice  before  forcing  a  horse  into  the  rolling 
flood,  so  the  old  trapper  (or  whoever  it  might  be)  would  yell 
across  and  make  signs  for  somebody  to  throw  him  some  tobacco, 
which  was  done. 

It  was  even  rougher  up  behind  the  wall  where  Sir  Horace 
Plunkett  came  to  ranch,  for  he  was  in  a  decidedly  isolated  spot. 
He  arrived  October  15,  1879,  in  his  25th  year  and  built  his  head- 
quarters at  the  mouth  of  Beaver  Creek  Canyon,  which  was  25 
miles  west  of  Frewen  Castle.  We  quote  from  Margaret  Digby's 
Horace  Plunkett':  ".  .  .  he  went  in  search  of  timber  up  the  beautiful 
Crazy  Woman  Canyon  where,  among  crags  and  gulches,  some  one 
had  built  a  sawmill." 

Though  of  the  nobility  and  very  wealthy,  Plunkett's  manner  of 
living  and  conducting  business  was  quite  different  from  the 
Fre wens'.  By  nature  very  conservative  and  with  a  background  of 
sound  agricultural  knowledge,  he  came  to  Wyoming  with  well- 
formulated  plans  for  successfully  combating  the  inevitable  obsta- 
cles confronting  him  in  this  wholly  new  venture.  He  realized  from 
the  start  that  this  would  be  no  easy  job.  He  was  unquestionably  a 
most  remarkable  man,  with  that  rare  ability  to  see  into  the  hearts 
of  men,  wherever  found,  and  judge  them  (and  himself,  also)  for 
what  they  were  worth.  He  possessed  that  keen  analytical  mind 
which  enabled  him  at  all  times  to  think  impartially  and  wisely.  He 
came  here  determined  to  be  and  to  live  western;  he  tried  very  hard 
to  understand  the  American  viewpoint.  He  wore  regular  cowboy 
clothes,  checked  shirt,  neck  bandana,  chaps,  wide  hat  and  boots, 
and  tried  to  make  himself  a  hand  wherever  needed  on  the  ranch. 
He'd  sail  from  Ireland  early  in  the  spring,  attend  to  business  in 
New  York  (for  Wyoming  ranching  was  only  one  of  the  many 
American  businesses  he  was  engaged  in)   then  go  to  Cheyenne 


3.  Chief  Comanche's  grave  is  in  Crazy  Woman  Canyon  on  the  top  of 
the  canyon  wall.  To  locate  the  spot,  cross  the  first  bridge,  then  continue 
on  the  road  until  you  reach  the  camp  ground  (one  with  grates,  toilets  and 
tables).  The  grave  is  in  the  pines  to  the  right  at  the  top  of  canyon,  just 
above  where  the  table  stands. 

4.  Published  by  Basel,  Blackwell  &  Mott,  Great  Britain,  1949. 


48  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

and  from  there  to  the  Powder  by  stage  and  buggy — a  hectic  trip 
with  streams  in  flood,  rain  and  mud  to  fight  and  the  horses  often 
stuck  in  the  mire  necessitating  walking  part  of  the  time. 

Sir  Horace  was  frail  physically,  suffering  from  the  family  mal- 
ady, tuberculosis  (another  reason  for  his  coming  to  Wyoming), 
and  he  was  frequently  troubled  with  a  severe  digestive  disorder. 
However,  in  spite  of  this,  he  drove  himself  hard,  hating  for  anyone 
to  think  him  inferior  in  hardihood  to  these  brawny  westerners.  He 
actually  did  more  than  most  of  them  and  often  drove  them  harder 
than  they  wanted  to  be  driven. 

On  one  occasion  in  Cheyenne  Sir  Horace  bought  an  old  horse 
and  a  young  horse  for  $200 — and  played  cards  ($80  worth)  for 
an  old  buggy  and  harness.  Even  though  allowing  themselves  to 
be  hitched  together  the  two  horses  didn't  exactly  take  to  each  other, 
but  Sir  Horace  started  out  for  Powder  River  anyway,  stubbornly 
determined  to  prove  his  ability  as  a  true  western  handler  of  horses. 
Everything  went  fairly  smooth  until  the  neckyoke  came  off.  This 
was  all  the  horses  needed  to  show  their  intense  dislike  for  each 
other  and  away  they  went,  the  young  one  kicking  wildly  every 
jump.  Outwardly  completely  undaunted  Sir  Horace  stayed  with 
them,  finally  getting  them  stopped  and  the  harness  repaired — 
then  on  to  the  ranch.  He  found  it  most  distasteful  stopping  at 
the  roadranches  and  said,  "I  shared  a  bed  last  night  with  a 
thousiand  bugs." 

And,  according  to  his  diary,  arrival  at  the  ranch  was  not  much 
more  pleasurable.  "In  our  absence  the  cowboys  had  treated  our 
house  very  badly,  and  we  found  it  in  a  filthy  condition.  Spent 
the  whole  day  doing  housemaid's  work.  .  .  .  Hope  the  cowboys 
won't  shoot  [the  new  cook]."  Try  as  he  would  he  could  never 
completely  reconcile  himself  to  the  way  people  lived  out  here,  with 
no  family  servants,  no  table  manners  and  such  horrible  food.  It 
was  indeed  a  rough,  violent  society  as  shown  by  this  quotation. 
"A  corpse  might  turn  up  'killed  some  four  or  five  days  ago  on  the 
ragged  bluffs  on  the  North  side  of  Powder  R[iver]  where  Red 
[Fork]  comes  in  .  .  .  shot,  and  snaked  by  the  heels  .  .  .  and 
thrown  into  a  gulch'." 

His  description  of  various  ranch  foremen  gives  a  good  idea  of 
the  times  and  also  illustrates  aptly  Sir  Horace's  ability  to  analyze 
character.  Of  one  Jack  Donaghue  he  said,  "He  was  a  strange 
character,  a  desperado  by  nature  and  education.  But  he  had  his 
good  points,  too.  He  had  no  respect  for  anyone,  and  was  very 
intractable.  .  .  .  His  strange  Western  humour — terribly  profane 
and  blasphemous  at  times — was  generally  amusing.  He  thorough- 
ly understood  the  expressiveness  of  the  Western  language  and  some 
of  his  sayings  will  long  be  remembered  by  Plunkett,  Roche  &  Co." 

Of  another,  a  certain  Roach  Chapman  he  wrote.  "Admirable 
at  his  work,  [but]  did  not  prove  a  wholly  fortunate  choice  .  .  . 
arrested  for  horse  stealing.  .  .  .  Believe  .  .  .  wanted  for  murder," 


THE   HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  49 

In  this  instance  Plunkett  was  very  willing  to  hire  a  lawyer  to  defend 
his  foreman,  but  before  the  trial  Chapman  broke  jail  and  took  off 
for  parts  unknown. 

Plunkett  admired  bold  characters  and  had  complete  contempt 
for  anyone  who  deteriorated  and  soured  under  hardship.  He  made 
very  few  allowances  for  human  weaknesses  and  unfortunately 
expected  to  find  his  own  honor  and  high  standards  in  other  men. 
If  he  decided  a  man  was  doing  more  good  at  his  job  than  harm 
he  stayed  with  him  and  vice  versa;  if  he  found  that  his  judgment 
was  wrong,  no  tie  of  friendship  or  any  feeling  of  embarrassment 
on  his  own  part  would  cause  him  to  keep  that  man  in  a  position 
of  trust.  This  constant  analyzing  naturally  cut  him  off  from  easy 
friendships  and  he  often  felt  he  had  no  real  admirers  among  his 
punchers.  The  resulting  loneliness  and  the  everlasting  need  for 
hard  work  were  truly  depressing;  thus  Sir  Horace  was  never  entire- 
ly sure  in  his  own  mind  whether  he  liked  this  country  and  his 
ranch  or  not.  , 

Johnny  Pierce  was  the  only  foreman  entirely  pleasing  to  Plunkett 
("the  most  faithful  of  all  foremen  I  have  known").  Johnny's 
loyalty  was  his  greatest  asset;  he  stood  behind  the  outfit  he  worked 
for  and  everyone  knew  it  and  respected  him  for  it.  He  was  a  big, 
square  shouldered,  dare-devil,  happy-go-lucky  fellow.  No  door- 
way was  quite  big  enough  for  Johnny,  but  it  wasn't  just  his 
physical  bigness  that  attracted  attention,  there  was  something  about 
him  that  made  his  presence  felt — he  was  good  to  have  around. 
He  had  a  careless,  sleepy-sort  of  manner,  which  gave  no  inkling 
of  the  hidden  energy  and  coolheaded  nerve  underneath.  He  could 
handle  men  and  animals  in  a  friendly  manner,  but  if  he  ran  into 
trouble  his  smile  could  become  as  deadly  as  his  six  shooter.  When 
Johnny  was  boss,  he  bossed,  and  everybody  knew  it  was  going  to 
be  that  way;  or  if  he  didn't  know  it,  he  soon  found  out. 

The  cowman  had  a  difficult  time  keeping  help,  for  the  cowboy 
was  a  born  drifter.  Always  on  the  frontier  beyond  organized 
society,  he  made  laws  of  his  own  to  meet  his  immediate  require- 
ments and  enforced  them  at  the  end  of  a  six-shooter,  if  he  felt  it 
necessary.  He  was  usually  honest,  as  he  himself  reckoned  honesty 
and,  for  the  most  part,  made  an  expert  hand.  Owning  nothing  but 
his  horse  and  its  trappings,  his  rope  and  six-shooter,  he  put  down 
no  roots  and  was  free  to  come  and  go  as  he  pleased.  He  worked 
hard  and  played  hard,  spent  his  money  recklessly,  and  created  his 
own  fun  whenever  an  opportunity  presented  itself. 

Plunket  usually  went  on  the  round  up,  suffering  untold  hard- 
ships just  to  prove  his  stamina.  They  lasted  months  and  covered 
a  large  area;  of  them  he  said,  "Round-Up  life  is  pleasant  enough 
for  a  change,  but  I  am  not  really  strong  enough  for  the  life.  .  .  . 
My  nerves  are  my  weak  point."  He  used  to  ride  over  the  hills 
stripped  to  the  waist  when  the  weather  permitted,  thinking  the 


50  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

sunburn  would  benefit  his  lungs.  He  wrote  another  time:  "Had  to 
sleep  three  in  a  bed.  I  slept — or  rather  lay — in  the  middle.  The 
man  on  right  snored  terribly,  and  man  on  left  ground  his  teeth.  It 
was  like  going  to  bed  with  a  blast  furnace  at  one  ear  and  a  grist 
mill  at  the  other." 

He  always  rode  his  favorite  horse  "Brownlow."  He  and  the 
horse  nearly  drowned  in  the  Nowood  River  (near  present  day 
Tensleep)  when  the  spring  floods  were  on  the  river  at  that  time 
being  over  25  yards  across.  Plunkett  said  of  high  spring  waters, 
"it  just  didn't  swim  our  horses,  only  filled  our  boots." 

Often  the  round-up  outfit  would  be  held  up  by  bands  of  Indians, 
who  traded  them  buffalo  hump  and  tongue  (rare  delicacies)  for 
tobacco  or  whiskey.  Sometimes  the  cowboys  would  stop  along 
a  stream  and  catch  fish  for  supper.  After  a  cloud  burst  they  fre- 
quently were  unable  to  safely  cross  a  creek  and  so  would  set  up 
camp  until  the  water  subsided.  The  punchers  always  entertained 
themselves  at  such  times — sometimes  running  horses  races  with 
the  Indians  and  always  playing  cards  far  into  the  night  by  the  light 
of  a  big  camp  fire.  These  card  sessions  frequently  resulted  in 
violent  quarrels  and  bloodshed.  When  two  men  in  an  outfit  be- 
came openly  antagonistic  toward  each  other,  both  got  fired.  This 
was  a  common  practice  in  those  days,  time  and  again  making  the 
outfit  short-handed,  for  it  wasn't  the  easiest  thing  finding  hired 
hands  on  the  spur  of  the  moment. 

Rattlesnakes  were  thick  and  snakebite  a  common  occurrence 
for  both  men  and  horses.  Plenty  Bear  and  his  band  of  Cheyennes 
used  to  hang  around  the  red  wall  country  a  lot.  He  was  very  skill- 
ful at  treating  snakebite  and  unusually  successful  in  lancing  the 
swollen  heads  of  bitten  horses.  He  was  always  willing  to  help  his 
white  friends. 

In  fact,  accidents  of  all  kinds  were  common  (and  most  care- 
lessly treated)  especially  during  the  branding.  Sir  Horace  de- 
scribed a  cowboy  in  the  act  of  branding  as  "hair,  dust  and  cor- 
ruption." He  could  never  understand  the  prevailing  casual  accep- 
tance of  tragic  happenings.  If  some  one  got  killed,  he  had  just 
died  and  that  was  it;  no  one  seemed  upset  and  work  or  pleasure 
went  on  as  usual. 

Keeping  ranch  accounts  proved  difficult  and  confusing,  too. 
How  could  any  sort  of  systematic  report  be  made  of  such  an  item 
as  this?  "[My]  Foreman  swaps  a  firm  horse  for  one  of  the  cow- 
boy's private  horses,  gives  $5  and  two  plugs  of  tobacco  to  boot." 

The  NH  ranch  headquarters  itself  was  a  homey,  domestic  place, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  was  strictly  bachelor  quarters.  They 
milked  four  cows,  churned  butter,  raised  chickens  and  had  a 
garden.  There  always  was  a  yard  full  of  pets  to  be  fed  on  a  bottle, 
such  as  young  foals,  pups,  young  deer  and  elk.  Plunkett  and 
Roche  also  owned  the  original  EK  Ranch  at  Mayoworth,  just 


THE   HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  51 

over  the  wall  to  the  east,  where  Alexis  Roche  stayed  most  of  the 
time.  (The  site  where  the  buildings  stood  are  on  the  Clark  Condit 
ranch.)  (See  map)  Alexis  had  brought  a  greyhound  named 
Paddy  over  from  Ireland  with  him.  Paddy  was  like  one  of  the 
family  and  led  a  most  exciting  life,  being  the  self-appointed 
guardian  of  all  the  ranch  pets.  It  was  a  common  sight  seeing  old 
Paddy  and  the  "wild"  pets  roaming  over  the  hills  together.  Alexis 
also  had  a  pet  goat  over  on  the  EK  who  became  a  constant  source 
of  annoyance  to  the  old  man  who  tended  the  garden  and  chopped 
the  wood,  for  the  goat  was  determined  to  feed  upon  the  vegetables 
in  the  garden.  One  day  the  old  fellow  ordered  a  lot  of  woven  wire 
and  completely  fenced  in  the  garden  spot,  even  on  top.  There- 
after the  goat  spent  most  of  his  time  nimbly  stepping  along  the 
planks  on  top  of  the  fence  trying  to  figure  out  why  he  was  now 
unable  to  get  at  the  food  of  his  choice. 

Regarding  old  Paddy's  death  Sir  Horace  wrote:  "He  had  lived 
a  hard  life.  Badly  poisoned  once;  torn  by  wolves  and  badgers, 
scalded  by  prickly  pears,  his  fighting  days  had  been  full  of  adver- 
sity. He  was  the  most  amiable  and  bravest  of  dogs,  the  latter 
quality  1  did  not  think  could  appear  in  a  greyhound." 

Plunkett  and  Edmund  Roche  each  took  turns  cooking,  churn- 
ing, milking,  chopping  wood  and  gardening  besides  working  at  a 
hay  camp  they  had  down  the  valley  (south)  where  much  native 
grass  was  put  up  for  feeding  saddle  horses  and  the  milk  cows. 
The  old  NH  was  indeed  a  busy,  interesting  place. 

In  1881  Peters  and  Alston  first  filed  on  the  present  — C  hold- 
ings. Alston  was  a  burly  Scotchman  and  T.  W.  Peters  an  English- 
man, the  latter  being  nicknamed  "Twice-Wintered."  These  men 
had  been  in  the  cow  business  in  Nebraska  and  brought  their  herds 
of  cattle  up  from  the  North  Platte  area.  They  were  a  huge  outfit 
with  the  following  cattle  brands:  FU,  VU,  UV.  Their  horse 
brands  were  KC  on  the  left  hip  and  — C  on  the  left  shoulder. 

(  Hank  Devoe  was  their  cow  foreman.  Hank  and  his  three  broth- 
ers George,  Charlie  and  Clark  grew  up  in  Marysville,  Kansas,  and 
all  came  west  early  in  life.  Clark  stayed  around  Cheyenne  but 
the  others  signed  up  with  freight  outfits  operating  between  Rock 
River  and  Fort  Fetterman.  George  ended  up  staying  around  Glen- 
rock.  He  was  a  big  man,  6'  4"  weighing  24(3  pounds.  There 
wasn't  any  fat  on  George  either,  he  was  all  muscle  and  bone — so 
strong  he  could  pick  up  a  man  in  each  hand  and  set  them  on  the 
bar  at  the  same  time.  He  served  as  a  deputy  sheriff  in  early  times. 
George  had  a  crippled  knee,  which  he  said  was  the  result  of  walk- 
ing so  many  miles  in  the  mud  behind  freight  trains.  ) 
.  (Charlie  located  on  a  homestead  on  Crazy  Wom^n  Creek  just 
above^the  John  R.  Smith  place  and  below  the  Barney  Long  home- 
stead. ) 

[in  1878  Hank  located  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains  in  northern 
Johnson  County  about  10  miles  above  Ft.  McKinney.    He  and  his 


52  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

wife  lived  in  a  tent  that  winter  while  Hank  hauled  logs  to  the  fort 
for  Ed  Chapline  who  had  the  wood  contract.  In  1881  the  Devoes 
moved  to  the  Bar  C. 

Hank  was  a  tall,  wiry,  well-built  man  with  a  square  jaw  and 
very  round  expressive  eyes  (two  outstanding  characteristics  of  the 
Devoes  on  down  through  successive  generations.  They  were  all 
handsome  men.) 

Mrs.  Devoe  was  the  only  white  woman  behind  the  wall  at  that 
time,  so  became  quite  an  important  person;  for,  no  matter  how 
rough  men  are,  most  of  them  enjoy  and  are  willing  to  accept  the 
things  a  good  woman  can  do  to  soften  frontier  living.  And  odd 
as  it  may  seem,  a  woman  was  completely  safe  then,  as  far  as  men 
were  concerned.  She  was  highly  respected  and  never  molested, 
notwithstanding  tales  to  the  contrary. 

May  Devoe  was  a  tall,  straight-up-and-down,  very  plain-looking 
woman,  but  what  she  lacked  in  beauty  she  made  up  for  in  liveli- 
ness. When  she  talked,  "she  made  the  funniest  faces"  to  empha- 
size the  mood  of  the  conversation;  so  folks  just  automatically  felt 
better  for  seeing  her.  A  very  capable,  sensible  woman  she  fitted 
in  perfectly  with  this  rough  man's  place.  Unfortunately  not  enough 
of  praise  has  been  given  these  frontier  women  who  so  courageously 
lived  a  life  beset  with  both  big  and  little  difficulties;  with  never  a 
word  of  complaint  and  apparently  with  not  the  slightest  feeling 
of  self-pity.  Even  their  own  husbands  were  thoughtless  and  incon- 
siderate (though  probably  unintentionally),  if  judged  by  modern 
standards  and  if  the  following  story  told  of  the  Devoes  is  true. 
One  day  an  Englishman  hadsgone  hunting  up  the  canyon  above  the 
Bar  C.  Later  on  a  huge  mountain  lion  ran  out  of  the  creek  bed 
and  headed  for  the  house,  followed  by  the  hunter  who  appeared 
on  the  scene  just  as  the  frightened  lion  leaped  through  the  kitchen 
window.  Hank  was  leaning  lazily  on  one  elbow  against  the  corral 
post  smoking  his  pipe.  When  he  made  no  movement  whatever 
toward  the  house,  the  EngUshman  could  contain  himself  no  longer 


Mountain  lion,  common  in  red  wall  country  in  early  days. 


THE   HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  53 

and  blurted  out,  "My  God,  man,  isn't  your  wife  in  there?"  Hank 
replied,  "Reckon  she  is." 

Englishman:  "Aren't  you  going  to  do  something?" 

Hank,  "Hell,  man — we  out  here  ain't  got  no  use  for  them  pesky 
critters  and  danged  if  I'm  going  to  help  him  out.  Let  him  get 
out  o'  there  the  best  way  he  kin." 

May  was  equal  to  any  emergency  and  soon  became  very  useful 
in  time  of  sickness  and  trouble.  She  administered  to  red  and 
white  alike,  her  sunny  disposition  and  skill  bringing  much  comfort 
at  such  times.  She'd  climb  on  her  bay  mare,  which  she  rode 
side-saddle,  grab  her  little  black  satchel  of  remedies  and  go  wher- 
ever needed,  near  or  far,  day  or  night.  She  told  about  a  time  a 
cowboy  was  accidentally  shot  over  on  Poker  Creek  Flats  at  the 
start  of  the  fall  roundup.  "Mr.  Devoe  had  a  man  sent  to  the 
ranch  and  I  sent  a  spring  wagon  and  mattress  and  had  the  man 
brought  to  the  house  where  I  took  care  of  him  for  9  days,  when 
he  died.  The  men  made  a  coffin  from  some  boards  (Hank  had 
sent  to  Cheyenne  for  to  make  a  top  box  for  the  mess  wagon)  and 
covered  it  with  my  black  alpaca  riding  skirt  and  lined  it  with 
sheets,  and  buried  him  down  on  Powder  River." 

The  Arapahoe  and  Shoshoni  Indians  were  thick  around  here 
then,  coming  every  winter  to  this  Powder  River  country  to  kill 
buffalo,  dry  meat  for  summer,  and  tan  hides  to  sell  to  the  whites. 
They  always  camped  just  below  the  Bar  C  house,  four  or  five 
hundred  in  a  band,  with  squaws  and  all.  The  cowboys  were 
always  dickering  with  the  Indians,  trading  tobacco  and  whiskey 
for  hides  and  horses;  and  May  become  well  acquainted  with  the 
squaws  of  Chief  White  Horse  and  Chief  Eagle  Breast.  She  often 
took  care  of  their  ailing  papooses  and  they  came  to  respect  her 
and  depend  upon  her  for  help  and  advice. 

One  day  May  happened  to  be  all  alone  on  the  ranch;  all  the 
men  were  to  be  gone  for  the  night,  too.  Some  old  white  villain, 
who  thought  everything  deteriorated  wtih  age  except  himself  and 
whiskey,  visited  the  Indian  Camp  with  his  jugs  of  liquor  and  he 
and  the  bucks  proceeded  to  get  hilariously  intoxicated.  By  night- 
fall the  place  was  in  a  riotous,  howhng  uproar.  May  felt  much 
concerned,  for  drunken  Indians  could  be  a  threat  to  the  entire 
ranch,  their  being  still  in  the  semi-savage  stage.  She  couldn't 
decide  just  what  to  do  and  was  racking  her  brain  for  a  sensible 
solution  when  she  heard  a  gentle  tap  on  the  door.  It  was  White 
Horse's  squaw  who'd  come  silently  to  tell  her  not  to  be  afraid, 
for  the  squaws  had  securely  tied  all  the  bucks  with  rawhide  thongs 
and  put  them  in  the  tepees  where  they  were  to  remain  until  all 
right  again.     She  said  the  bad  white  man  was  also  tightly  bound. 

Not  long  after  this  the  opportunity  came  to  repay  the  squaw, 
whose  young  married  daughter  with  a  newborn  papoose  had  be- 
come violently  ill  with  a  high  fever.     May  faithfully  nursed  the 


54  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

sick  girl  for  2  weeks  and  her  recovery  was  complete.  The  squaw 
mother  soon  after  that  brought  May  a  yard  of  calico  and  a  big 
spoon  to  let  her  know  she  was  deeply  grateful. 

Soon  after  the  Devoe's  arrival  at  the  Bar  C  a  mail  route  was 
established  from  Powder  River  Crossing  to  the  Bar  C,  going  on 
over  the  mountain  to  the  Basin  country.  Hank  Devoe  and  Fred 
Hesse  had  the  contract  and  May  was  postmistress  for  six  years. 
At  that  time  the  mail  was  carried  horseback  twice  a  week  (down 
one  day  and  back  the  next). 

Mrs.  Bert  Devoe  of  Kaycee  has  in  her  possession  the  old  day 
books  in  which  Hank  Devoe,  as  foreman,  kept  the  ranch  accounts 
of  Peters  and  Alston.  (Her  late  husband  Bert  was  a  son  of  George 
Devoe,  Hank's  brother. )  A  perusal  of  these  old  books  provides 
extremely  interesting  glimpses  into  early  day  life.  From  them  we 
learn  that  Hank,  as  foreman,  drew  $300  a  month  and  that  the  best 
cowboys  drew  $50.  Cowboys  drew  wages  according  to  their 
ability — from  $50  on  down  to  $15  per  month.  Here  are  a  few  list- 
ings from  the  years  1881,  '82  and  '83  (picked  at  random). 

1881  1- 


July  13 

pair  chaps 

$9.00 

"     27 

4-#  tobacco 

4.00 

Sept.  16 

one  horse 

40.00 

Oct.  5 

paid  Chapplin  for  vegetables 

119.50 

'.'     5 

paid  Conrad''  for  groceries 

26.75 

"     5 

stable  bill  at  Buffalo 

6.00 

"     5 

grain  bill  at  Buffalo 

12.00 

"     5 

sack  of  oats  at  Trabing" 

2.75 

"     5 

hotel  bill  for  Dutchey 

2.50 

"     5 

recording  brands 

3.00 

Oct.  29 

20  days  work  for  John  Nolan 

23.35 

Nov.  15 

Cartridges 

7.75 

Dec.  8 

gun  sling 

3.00 

Dec.  31 

repair  on  wagon 

6.00 

1882 

Mar.  18 

sugar  and  coffee 

$7.90 

"      18 

bacon  and  sugar 

1.00 

"     18 

50  #  flour 

3.75 

Oct.  4 

3344;t  cabbage  of  Chapplin 

? 

Aug.  24 

telegraphing  Peters 

3.50 

June  15 

paid  Frewen  Brothers 

955.86 

Dec.  6 

dinner  caster 

5.00 

5.  Conrad  had  the  first  store  in  Buffalo. 

6.  Trabing's  was  a  roadranch  on  Crazy  Woman  Creek. 


THE    HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  55 

1883 


Mar.  13  dues  to  Stock  Assn.  3.00 

"     13  whip  4.00 

In  those  days  fellows  often  went  by  nicknames  (very  evident  in 
day  books).  They  may  have  had  special  reasons  for  purposely 
not  using  their  real  names  but  probably  most  of  them  had  been 
given  a  special  one  by  their  joke-loving  fellow  cowboys  who  thor- 
oughly enjoyed  playing  pranks  on  one  another,  (a  tendency  not 
altogether  appealing  to  the  tenderfoot.)  Here  are  a  few  of  the 
nicknames.  (What  fun  it  would  be  to  know  why  or  how  each 
earned  the  name.)  Chicken  Charlie,  Bronco  Smith,  Bull  Dog 
Bill,  Less-leg  Davison,  Black  Henry,  Long-back  Charlie,  Old 
Good-Eye,  Coyote  John,  Butter-Knife  Ben,  Hairy-Vest  Ike,  Bea- 
vertooth  Barney,  Nosey  O'Brien,  Hog  Davis,  Dirty  Jack  and  many 
others,  some  of  which  certainly  cannot  be  considered  entirely 
flattering. 

This  incident  taking  place  on  lower  Powder  River  in  1880 
illustrates  the  habit  of  nicknaming.  An  old-timer  related,  'T  had 
brought  quite  a  string  of  unbroken  horses  up  the  trail  to  sell.  I 
established  a  horse  camp  on  Powder  River,  built  a  corral  and  set 
the  boys  to  work  breaking  horses.  I  had  quite  a  bunch  of  punchers 
with  me — all  good  riders  and  in  a  short  time  had  a  good  string  of 
horses  ready  to  sell.  However,  there  was  one  horse  in  the  bunch 
that  was  an  outlaw  and  there  wasn't  a  man  in  the  outfit  that  could 
ride  him.  .  .  .  Along  about  grub  time  one  evening  a  stranger  blew 
into  camp  and,  as  was  the  custom,  found  himself  a, tin  plate  and 
cup  and  proceeded  to  put  on  the  nose-bag.  There  wasn't  anything 
strange  looking  about  the  stranger,  he  was  just  a  cowboy  looking 
for  a  job;  but  what  took  my  eye  was  his  outfit.  He  was  riding  a 
flea-bitten  cayuse  and  his  saddle  was  the  most  nondescript  thing  it 
had  ever  been  my  luck  to  look  at.  Nearly  all  the  leather  was 
gone,  the  stirrups  were  suspended  by  rope;  the  horn  was  bare;  in 
fact,  you  had  to  stretch  your  imagination  to  call  it  a  saddle  at  all." 
He  gave  the  stranger  a  job  and,  it  being  obvious  he'd  have  to  be 
staked  to  a  good  horse,  he  continued,  "So  I  told  the  boys  to  pick 
him  out  a  horse.  What  was  my  surprise  when  they  brought  out 
the  outlaw.  I  didn't  like  it  and  told  them  to  rope  another  horse 
and  told  the  stranger  none  of  my  boys  had  been  able  to  ride  that 
horse.  He  said  he  didn't  care — he'd  ride  him,  so  I  said  for  him 
to  pick  out  a  good  saddle  from  the  supply  tent — for  I  was  afraid 
his  own  wouldn't  stand  the  strain.  But  he  said  he'd  use  his  own 
because  he  was  used  to  it.  .  .  .  This  outlaw  was  a  peculiar  sort  of 
critter — he  made  no  objection  to  being  saddled  and  might  go  a 
mile  or  two  without  bucking,  but  when  he  did  let  go,  he  was  hell 
on  wheels.  This  time  was  no  different  and  we'd  gone  about  a 
mile  when  the  outlaw ,  broke  loose  and  used  every  trick  a  long 
successful  bucking  career  had  taught  him;  but  this  time  he'd  met 


56  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

his  Waterloo.  The  stranger  was  a  rider.  He  didn't  pull  leather 
because  there  wasn't  any  to  pull  —  he  rode  him  straight  up, 
thumbed  him  and  fanned  him  with  his  hat,  and  gave  him  his  head. 
.  .  .  That  horse  was  hard  to  conquer.  He'd  rest  awhile  and  then 
go  after  it  again,  but  always  with  the  same  result.  By  the  time 
we  got  where  we  were  going  he  was  a  broke  horse."  So  the 
stranger  whose  name  was  John  Morrison  became  "Pack  Saddle 
Jack"  until  his  death.' 

Along  about  1 884  or  '85  a  man  named  Coable  filed  on  land  at 
the  mouth  of  Blue  Creek  Canyon  and  started  a  horse  ranch  (site 
of  present  Blue  Creek  Ranch  Company)  in  partnership  with  a 
certain  Brown  Parker.  They  were  easterners,  hailing  from  Penn- 
sylvania, and  were  also  bachelors.  As  an  old-timer  said,  "They 
came  in  with  quite  a  bit  of  money  and  lost  it  all,  of  course;  done 
just  like  all  the  Englishmen — lived  in  town  a  lot  and  tried  to  run 
a  ranch."  Parker  was  a  surveyor  by  trade  and  his  services  were 
much  in  demand  as  the  country  began  to  settle  up.  He  was  a 
tall,  rather  stoop-shouldered  fellow  of  medium  complexion  with  a 
fancy  mustache — folks  didn't  like  him  very  well,  for  he  was  in- 
clined to  be  somewhat  over-bearing. 

In  the  late  '80's  the  post  office  was  moved  from  the  Bar  C  to 
the  Coable  ranch  which  was  given  the  name  Riverside  (because 
the  cabin  stood  on  the  bank  of  the  beautiful  little  stream  Blue 
Creek). 

Another  big  cow  outfit  had  started  up  east  of  the  Hole-in-the- 
Wall  on  the  South  Fork  of  the  Powder  and  was  operated  by  Tisdale 
and  May,  (site  of  the  present  TTT  ranch)  They  came  to  River- 
side for  their  mail.  In  1885  Owen  Wister  was  a  house  guest  of 
the  Tisdales  (there  were  2  brothers),  having  come  west  on  the 
advice  of  his  doctor.  Never  having  been  west  of  Pennsylvania, 
Wister's  experiences  in  Wyoming  were  a  great  revelation  to  him, 
in  a  way  determining  his  career  as  a  writer,  for  at  that  time  and 
on  each  successive  visit  he  began  to  jot  down  descriptions  of  hap- 
penings peculiar  to  this  life  and  this  country,  (which  provided  the 
background  for  his  famous  book.  The  Virginian ) . 

Wister  often  accompanied  Tisdales  to  Riverside  for  the  mail 
and  he  became  thoroughly  fascinated  with  the  beauty  of  the  place 
and  with  the  people  he  met  there  while  waiting  for  the  mail.  Due 
to  the  uncertainty  as  to  the  exact  arrival  time  of  the  horseback 
mail-carrier  (flooded  streams  often  delayed  him)  the  fellows 
usually  came  prepared  to  stay  all  night,  if  necessary,  spreading 
their  bed  rolls  out  under  the  stars.  Coable  and  Parker  were  gone 
a  lot,  but  they  left  the  key  to  the  mail  sack  hanging  by  the  door 
and,  whoever  wanted  his  mail,  unlocked  the  sack  and  took  out  his 


7.  The  late  Dr.  Wm.  Frackleton  of  Sheridan  told  many  stories  about 
this  heroic  man,  who  eventually  settled  around  Sheridan. 


THE   HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  57 

own  letters.  If  hungry  he  cooked  himself  a  meal  and  made  himself 
thoroughly  at  home.  So  Riverside  became  quite  a  "visiting  place" 
and  hangout  for  loafers  and  newcomers. 

Wister  became  so  intrigued  with  Riverside  that  one  summer  he 
stayed  in  a  cabin  there  and  wrote  his  "Lin  McLean"  book.  During 
his  stay  at  Blue  Creek  he  was  an  eye-witness  to  much  western  life 
in  the  raw,  and,  like  Sir  Horace  Plunkett,  never  inwardly  became 
reconciled  to  the  harsh  code  and  seeming  cruelty  of  this  early  west. 

Even  the  roughest  of  the  men  had  a  sense  of  right  and  wrong, 
perverted  as  it  appeared  to  outsiders,  and  often  meted  out  justice 
(among  themselves)  as  they  saw  it;  This  is  so  aptly  illustrated  by 
the  following  incident  which  was  witnessed  by  Wister  himself.  It 
seems  that  a  certain  young  puncher  had  committed  some  cowardly 
act,  causing  him  to  be  held  in  supreme  contempt  by  all  the  cow- 
boys. It  was  decided,  since  he  was  quite  youthful  and  his  crime 
directed  against  no  one  in  particular,  that  instead  of  "dry  gulching" 
him  they'd  give  him  a  50-50  chance  of  survival.  They'd  let  him 
live  and  leave  the  country  if  he  could  ride  the  worst  outlaw  horse 
on  the  ranch.  Not  even  a  coward  wanted  to  be  considered  cow- 
ardly, so  the  kid  rode  the  horse  and  he  was  a  good  rider.  After 
all,  he  really  was  given  no  choice.  Instead  of  a  bridle  he  put  on  a 
rope  hackamore  and  climbed  into  the  saddle,  so  swift  and  sure 
that  the  amazed  bronc  stood  still  for  a  split-second,  then  sprang 
headlong  into  the  air.  As  he  lengthened  out  the  boy  suddenly 
reached  down  and  caught  the  hackamore  short,  close  up  by  the 
mouth,  and  jerked  the  horse  around  quick  and  hard.  The  horse 
skidded  in  a  blind  zigzag,  rolling  over  and  over  in  the  red  dust. 
After  a  mighty  tussle  he  came  to  his  feet  again  and  took  off 
toward  the  red  wall,  the  boy  still  in  the  saddle  but  hanging  limply 
over  the  horse's  neck.  When  the  horse  stopped  and  the  "self- 
appointed  judges"  rode  up  they  saw  that  the  kid  was  dead,  hanging 
on  by  his  spurs  which  were  caught  in  the  cinch.  His  neck  must 
have  been  broken  in  the  fall,  no  one  knew  exactly;  no  one  could 
tell,  they  just  saw  that  he  was  dead.  So  they  made  a  crude  box 
coffin  and  buried  him  over  under  the  wall.  Nobody  now  knows 
who  he  was,  but  his  grave  is  still  there  and  his  story  still  told  by 
the  Blue  Creek  people. 

Wister  left  a  kerosene  lamp  in  his  cabin  which  successive  owners 
cherished  down  through  the  years,  calling  it  the  "Owen  Wister 
lamp."  It  represented  Atlas  holding  the  world  on  his  shoulders. 
Atlas  was  of  black  pewter,  the  world  was  purple  glass  (holding 
the  oil,  over  which  the  chimney  fitted),  the  base  was  also  black." 

Even  before  the  big  cowmen  began  exploiting  the  range  with  too 
many  cattle,  Harmon  Fraker  was  living  in  the  red  wall  country  up 


8.  In  recent  years  the  lamp  was  stolen.     "Someone   wanted   it   worse 
than  we  did,"  said  Mrs.  Ed  Taylor  who  now  owns  the  Blue  Creek  outfit. 


Augustus  Fraker's  cabin  (still  standing).     Gus  Fraker  harrowing  with 
harrow  made  from  gun  barrels  salvaged  from  Dull  Knife  fight. 

2.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Augustus  Fraker  and  children  Mable  and  George. 

3.  Interior  of  Harmon  Fraker  cabin  with  George  Fraker  and  two  cousins, 
Verna  and  Johnny  Fraker  of  Wisconsin.  The  gun  hanging  on  the  wall 
is  now  in  the  Jim  Gatchell  Collection  in  Buffalo  and  was  made  by 
Harmon  Fraker.  — Courtesy  Thelma  Gatchell  Condit 


THE   HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  59 

under  Fraker  Mountain  in  the  little  hidden  valley  the  Cheyenne 
Indians  had  loved  so  well.  He  had  come  in  the  spring  of  1877 
following  the  Dull  Knife  fight  of  the  preceding  winter. 

Harmon  was  born  and  raised  in  the  timberlands  of  Wisconsin 
and  was  most  skillful  in  the  use  of  the  axe.  He  came  to  Wyoming 
in  the  role  of  buffalo  hunter  and  trapper.  He  was  a  short,  rather 
heavy-set  man  with  a  luxuriant  beard,  and  he  wore  a  buckskin 
outfit  that  was  very  showy.  His  few  belongings  were  packed  in  a 
light  wagon  to  which  were  hitched  a  pair  of  buckskin-colored 
horses.  They  were  fine  animals,  his  pride  and  joy,  next  to  his 
gun,  of  course,  and  could  be  used  as  saddle  horses,  too.  After 
considerable  wandering  here  and  there  Harmon  decided  that  this 
Red  Fork  place  was  exactly  to  his  liking  so  he  unpacked  his  wagon 
and  set  about  making  it  his  home.  He  filed  on  the  land  as  soon 
as  it  was  possible  to  do  so. 

After  the  cowmen  arrived  Harmon  got  his  nickname.  One 
evening  he  made  camp  by  a  little  spring  on  top  of  the  slope.  He'd 
spent  a  strenuous  day  going  over  his  trap  line  and  both  he  and  his 
team  were  about  played  out.  As  all  kindhearted  men  will  do  at 
times  (and  regret  afterwards)  Harmon  turned  the  buckskins  loose 
that  night  thinking  with  the  grass  so  abundant  and  fresh  water  at 
hand  and  in  their  "bushed"  condition  they'd  stay  close  to  camp. 
But  as  all  good  horses  will  do  one  time  or  another,  they  took  off 
for  fresher  grass  and  next  morning  try  as  he  would  Harmon  could 
not  find  his  team.  Berating  himself  for  being  a  stupid  fool,  he 
picked  up  his  gun  and  axe  and  started  home  afoot.  He  knew 
better  than  "to  leave  those  blamed  horses  unhobbled";  "never 
trust  a  horse  or  a  woman"  was  pretty  sensible  thinking,  proving 
true  time  and  again. 

It  was  quite  a  stretch  down  to  Red  Fork  but  Harmon  plodded 
along  getting  madder  by  the  minute.  Toward  evening  he  came 
upon  a  cow-camp  cabin.  A  tall,  slim-faced  old  puncher  was  sitting 
in  front  of  the  door  whittling  on  a  piece  of  wood  and  chewing 
slowly  on  a  sizeable  chunk  of  tobacco.  After  letting  loose  with  a 
big  spurt  of  juice  he  look  up  and  drawled,  "Waal,  if  here  ain't  old 
Daniel  Boone  hisself."  So  from  then  on  Harmon  v^^as  known  as 
"Daniel  Boone  Fraker." 

He  was  a  most  interesting  person,  a  typical  pioneer,  frugal  and 
practical,  his  gun  and  his  broad-axe  his  only  tools.  He  tanned  the 
hides  of  the  deer  he  killed  and  made  his  own  buckskin  clothing. 
His  gun  was  most  unusual,  it  weighed  16  pounds  and  shot  45-145 
cartridges.  It  was  such  a  cumbersome  piece  that  Harmon  rigged 
up  a  special  sling  on  his  saddle  horn  to  carry  it  up  in  front  of  him, 
when  he  rode  horseback.  It  was  mighty  useful,  shooting  a  slug 
that  would  penetrate  a  huge  log,  the  size  used  for  cabins  at  that 
time.  There  were  only  two  such  guns  in  the  country;  Wild  Cat 
Sam  Abernathy  had  the  other  one. 


60  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Harmon  lived  in  a  tent  while  he  was  building  his  cabin.  Return- 
ing one  day  with  a  big  load  of  logs,  he  found  that  a  huge  grizzly 
bear  had  entered  his  tent  during  his  absence;  after  pawing  and 
nosing  around  over  everything  and  eating  what  struck  his  fancy, 
he  had  apparently  become  mildly  confused  and  couldn't  rediscover 
the  flap  where  he  had  entered.  When  Harmon  stuck  his  bearded 
face  under  the  flap,  the  bear  decided  to  leave  anyway  and,  in  so 
doing,  ripped  out  the  whole  side  of  the  tent.  Grizzly  bears  were 
common  in  those  days.  (The  Fraker  family  still  have  an  old 
homemade  cupboard  with  huge  slashes  down  its  sides  made  by  a 
grizzly.) 

The  bear  situation  made  it  understandable  how  Bear  Trap  Creek 
got  its  name.  Up  on  the  mountains  near  the  head  of  Bear  Trap 
Canyon  three  log  bear  traps  had  been  built  at  intervals,  one  of 
which  is  still  there.  It  is  believed  Harmon  built  them,  although  this 
fact  has  not  been  proven.  They  were  cute  little  cabins  about  4' 
by  6'  or  8'  built  of  heavy  logs  on  three  sides  and  the  front  left  open. 
The  open  side  had  a  sUding  door  made  of  arm-size  poles,  latticed 
together  and  fitting  into  wide  grooves  on  either  side  of  the  front. 
A  large  wooden  pin  held  the  door  up  when  the  trap  was  set;  to 
the  pin  was  attached  a  rawhide  thong  which  extended  along  under 
the  roof  and  down  into  the  back  end  of  the  interior.  The  bait  was 
fastened  on  the  end  of  the  thong — usually  a  piece  of  bacon  or 
"home-smoked"  meat.  The  bear,  smelling  the  bait,  walked  into 
the  little  house,  and  when  he  grabbed  the  bait  the  thong  was  pulled, 
which  released  the  pin  and  down  slid  the  door  and  the  bear  was 
neatly  trapped.  The  house  had  to  be  small — just  big  enough  for  a 
bear — otherwise  with  room  enough  for  leverage  he  would  tear  it 
apart.  Bears  have  tremendous  strength  and  can  drag  a  freshly- 
killed,  full-grown  cow  off  into  the  brush.  The  captured  animal 
could  easily  be  shot  by  poking  the  gun  barrel  through  an  opening 
between  the  pole  lattice-work. 

Harmon,  being  domestically  inclined,  had  built  himself  a  "smoke 
house"  to  cure  his  wild  meat  for  summer  use.  This  was  a  drawing 
card  for  bears  for  how  they  loved  this  meat!  First  the  meat  was 
cut  up  into  quarters  and  put  into  a  large  barrel  full  of  salt  brine 
where  it  soaked  for  10  or  more  days,  then  it  was  hung  up  to  drip 
dry.  The  final  stage  in  the  curing  was  the  smoking  in  the  little 
house  which  was  narrow  and  tall  and  looked  like  a  "privy."  It 
always  stood  on  a  small  knoll  or  on  the  edge  of  a  cut  bank  under 
one  side  of  which  a  little  tin-covered  tunnel  led  down  to  the  fire- 
pit  where  a  green  boxelder  fire  smouldered,  also  under  a  tin 
covering.  The  green  wood  burned  slowly  and  smoked  profusely, 
the  smoke  going  up  the  tunnel  into  the  smoke  house  (and  also 
out  the  cracks  in  all  directions).  The  smoke  caused  the  meat  to 
put  on  a  hard,  dry  coating  which  not  only  preserved  the  meat  but 
also  gave  it  that  delicious  smoked  taste.  It  took  constant  vigilance 
to  keep  the  fire  going  slowly  enough  to  prevent  setting  the  house 


THE   HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  61 

afire,  and  yet  fast  enough  to  keep  up  a  steady  flow  of  smoke.  This 
smoked  meat  could  be  wrapped  up  and  kept  like  a  ham.  The 
pioneers  smoked  all  kinds  of  meat  this  way.  Harmon  was  never 
the  least  bit  wasteful,  and  like  the  Indians  before  him,  wasted 
none  of  the  meat  he  shot. 

There  were  other  predators.  One  day  after  Harmon  had  his 
chicken  coop  made  he  went  out  to  feed  the  hens,  and  as  he  opened 
the  door  a  huge  mountain  lion  jumped  at  him  (see  picture  of  lion). 
He  ran  to  get  his  gun,  but  when  he  fired  he  missed  the  animal. 
That  night  he  poisoned  one  of  his  dead  chickens  and  used  it  for 
bait  and  sure  enough  the  next  morning  the  lion  was  in  the  trap. 
(They  were  very  stupid  about  walking  into  traps.)  After  hitting 
it  in  the  head  with  his  axe  he  noticed  a  grooved  place  on  one  hind 
leg;  his  shot  had  been  that  close. 

Harmon's  first  cabin  was  only  three  30-inch  logs  high  and  still 
stands  at  Barnum.  (Although  re-modeled  somewhat,  the  original 
part  is  yet  intact — it  is  the  ranch  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frank 
Graves.)  As  mentioned  before  Harmon  was  a  broad-axe  man 
and  the  huge  logs  he  used  are  a  source  of  amazement  even  now. 
No  nails  were  used,  the  logs  simply  being  notched  and  expertly 
fitted  together.  On  the  mountain  above  Graves'  can  still  be  seen 
an  old  fence  built  by  Harmon.  Some  of  the  logs  in  this  fence  are 
50  to  60  feet  long;  it  was  all  put  together  without  a  nail  or  wire 
and  is  truly  a  work  of  art.  Harmon's  folks  said  he  was  a  sickly 
man,  he  had  stomach  trouble.  Seeing  the  immense  logs  he  handled 
and  made  useable,  one  can't  help  wondering  what  he  would  have 
done  had  he  been  a  "well"  man.  But  Harmon  really  did  begin 
to  lose  his  health  and  he  urged  his  brothers  Will  and  Augustus 
to  come  to  Red  Fork." 

Gus  Fraker  filed  on  the  land  (about  one-half  mile)  just  below 
Harmon's,  and  they  built  another  cabin  down  there  which  is  there 
now  and  is  worth  anyone's  time  to  go  see. 

The  Frakers  liked  this  country  and  began  putting  down  roots, 
getting  together  a  little  bunch  of  cattle  and  horses  and  breaking 
up  the  land  for  crops.  They  continued  to  trap  and  hired  out  as 
hands  to  get  together  the  necessary  money. 

But  before  much  could  be  done  with  the  land,  the  debris  of  the 
Dull  Knife  fight  had  to  be  cleared  away — it  was  a  terrible  clutter — 
but  all  this  time  Harmon  had  been  sorting  it  out  at  odd  moments, 
saving  every  useable  thing  he  found.  As  can  be  imagined  he  col- 
lected quite  a  pile  of  old  gun  barrels.  While  MacKenzie's  orders 
had  been  "to  render  every  article  unuseable"  the  army  hadn't 


9.  George  Fraker,  now  an  old  man  who  lives  in  Sheridan,  Wyoming,  is 
the  son  of  Augustus.     George's   son,   Martin,   works   for  the    D    (D  +  ) 

+ 
Cattle  Company  owned  by  Harry  Roberts  at  the  present  time,  so  there 
still  are  Frakers  in  the  red  valley. 


62  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

reckoned  with  the  ingenuity  of  Harmon  Fraker.  From  the  sal- 
vaged material  he. found  enough  pieces  of  broken  guns  to  make 
several  new  rifles.'"  These  guns  were  completely  useable  and  as 
good  as  any' new  gun. 

Harmon  also  made  a  harrow  out  of  old  gun  barrels  (see  picture) 
which  he  and  Gus  used  to  break  up  the  sod.  The  corral  gates 
and  numerous  other  things  around  the  ranch  had  salvaged  iron 
pieces  used  on  them  and  some  are  there  yet  on  corral  posts.  Har- 
mon made  a  big  scoop  which  he  used  with  his  team  to  drag  all  the 
stuff  he  couldn't  use  off  into  Red  Fork  where  it  washed  down 
country  during  high  water  time. 

While  the  Fraksrs  were  busy  in  the  extreme  northern  end  of 
the  red  wall  country,  a  fellow  by  the  name  of  Ed  Houk  was  starting 
a  ranch  on  the  extreme  southern  end,  at  the  mouth  of  Buffalo 
Creek  Canyon.  Ed  was  also  a  bachelor,  big  and  nice-looking,  and 
"had  the  name  of  being  a  good,  honest  man."  He  had  en  enor- 
mous ranch,  his  operations  spreading  out  to  the  south  into  present 
day  Natrona  County.  He  came  in  with  plenty  of  money  and 
equipped  his  place  quite  lavishly.  He  ran  a  sort  of  roadranch  and 
bred  blooded  horses,  besides  his  cattle  herd.  He  had  water  pipes 
running  all  over  the  place — even  faucets  in  the  main  house,  which 
was  considered  something  in  those  days.  He  spent  a  lot  of  money 
building  a  big  ditch  trying  to  make  use  of  Buffalo  Creek  water  for 
irrigation  purposes.  (The  big  ditch  is  still  to  be  seen  but  it  didn't 
work  out  satisfactorily — at  least  no  one  has  used  it  since. )  The 
cowboys  called  his  ranch  "Fort  Houk,"  its  pretentious  outlay  of 
buildings  being  quite,  as  imposing  as  a  real  fort.  Ed  Houk  was 
different  from  the  other  big  operators;  his  main  ambition  was  to 
do  something  interesting,  not  just  make  money  fast.  He  liked  the 
Hole-in-the-Wall  country  and  came  to  stay.  (More  about  him  in 
the  next  installment  of  this  series) 

By  the  middle  '80's  tjietbig  cowman  was  in  trouble  and  no  one 
knew  it  any  better  than  he  did.  His  wonderful  dream  of  amassing 
a  vast  fortune  in  the  range  cow  business  had  suddenly,  after  a  few 
years,  turned  into  a  sort  of  nightmare.  In  his  planning  he  had 
failed  to  take  into  consideration  the  duplicity  of  this  Powder  River 
Country.  He  didn't  realize  that  this  big  "grassiness"  and  rugged 
beauty  could,  overnight,  turn  into  a  burning,  dry  ugliness  and  a 
blinding  blizzardy  coldness  which  was  to  leave  many  of  his  cows 
starving  and  dead.  He  was  face-to-face  with  many  upsetting 
things  that  weren't  plainly  seen  in  the  beginning. 

Some  of  the  things  he  was  facing  were  unwittingly  of  his  own 
creating,  like  overstocking  the  range  until  the  very  grass  itself  was 


10.  One  of  these  guns  is  in  the  "Jim  Gatchell  collection  in  Buffalo," 
for  Harmon,  when  an  old  man  and  leaving  this  country,  presented  it  to 
Mr.  Gatchell  as  a  trophy  from  the  Dull  Knife  Battle,     (see  picture) 


THE   HOLE  IN-THE-WALL  63 

complaining.  (For  who  could  say  with  authority,  when  the  range 
was  overstocked,  since  the  land  was  free  to  everyone?)  And,  like 
running  his  business  slackly  with  no  system,  organization  or  judg- 
ment, really  doing  it  more  or  less  on  the  "absentee"  plan,  where 
his  only  tallies  were  kept  on  a  corral  post  and  his  only  record  of 
loss  was  shown  on  his  check  stub.  Unpredictable  forces  of  nature 
coupled  with  the  inevitable  weaknesses  of  large  management  ex- 
hausted even  the  greatest  of  fortunes. 

Few  of  the  big  outfits  had  any  money  invested  in  land,  nor  did 
they  attempt  to  fence.  The  great  range  was  unsurveyed  and  titles 
could  not,  at  first,  be  had.  Then,  all  at  once,  before  anyone  hardly 
realized  it  had  happened,  "little"  cowmen,  (following  the  example 
of  the  Frakers)  began  filing  on  the  most  advantageous  water- 
places  and  surveying  little  acreages  and  putting  them  under  fences. 
Who,  now,  could  positively  establish  ownership  of  cattle?  Dis- 
honest men  (as  they  have  done  from  time  immemorial)  began 
arriving  to  take  sly  advantage  of  the  laxness  on  the  range.  It  was 
only  a  step  from  "mavericking"  to  changing  brands;  and  even 
otherwise  honest  men's  consciences  now  became  dangerously  elas- 
tic and  they  felt  no  compunction  whatever  in  burning  their  brand 
on  the  hide  of  a  calf  following  a  cow  belonging  to  a  man  who  lived 
in  England  most  of  the  time.  An  intense  feeling  of  resentment 
toward  these  luxurious  living  and  spending  outsiders  sprang  up — 
these  foreigners  who'd  never  seen  the  tough  side  of  life  and  whom 
they  felt  (and  quite  justifiably  too)  had  no  lawful  hold  on  this  big 
rangeland. 

A  decided  undercurrent  of  unfriendliness  was  brewing.  As  Sir 
Horace  Plunkett  ably  described,  "These  bad  times  have  robbed 
the  cattle  business  of  its  old  careless  geniality.  Even  our  ranch  is 
not  the  happy  family  it  has  been."  When  Sir  Horace  rode  on  the 
1886  roundup  he  said,  "They  were  not  cordial  at  all.  They'd 
been  talking  of  shooting  me  all  winter,  as  I  have  been  made  scape- 
goat of  the  attempt  to  reduce  wages.  I  think  I'll  outlive  it — but 
it  is  unpleasant  being  scowled  at  and  talked  at  by  the  blackguards 
.  .  .  they  feel  our  intrusion.  They  say,  'You  have  a  social  position 
and  we  have  hardly  any — so  we  don't  compare  favorably  with  your 
society.  But  we're  just  as  good  as  you  are,  though  you  don't 
know  it'." 

These  men  found  many  little  complaints  against  the  Englishmen; 
for  one  thing,  they  cut  their  horses'  tails  off  square,  above  the  end 
of  the  tail  bone,  and  used  check  reins  on  the  bridle,  both  very 
shocking  procedures.  They  carelessly  set  fire  to  grass  meadows  on 
their  gay  hunting  sprees,  which  was  a  scandalous  waste  of  good 
animal  food. 

The  big  cowmen  couldn't  combat  the  severe  storms  and  dry 
weather,  but  they  could  lash  out  angrily  at  these  little  cowmen 
who  so  persistently  spoiled  things.  Trouble  was  in  the  making 
for  a  final  showdown  in  1892. 


64 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


THE   HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  65 

The  former  (big  cowman)  now  had  two  alternatives,  either 
liquidate  his  holdings  and  leave  or  reorganize  his  outfit  to  meet 
the  changing  time,  which  meant  buying  and  fencing  land  and  feed- 
ing in  winter.  Some  stayed  and  some  left.  In  1886  the  Frewens 
went  broke.  In  1889  the  Bar  C  closed  out  and  sold  what  was  left 
to  the  NH  outfit.  Sir  Horace  carried  on  until  some  time  after 
1 890  when  he,  too,  sold  out  and  returned  to  Ireland  where  family 
responsibilities  and  other  big  financial  ventures  were  becoming 
pressing.  We  cannot  repress  a  feeling  of  intense  admiration  for 
Sir  Horace  when  we  read:  "Spent  day  packing  up.  ...  I  burnt 
papers  by  the  bushel.  .  .  .  Left  NH  Ranch.  This  may  be  the  last 
I  see  of  it,  and  I  had  some  of  the  feeling  which  life  is  so  unfor- 
tunately full  of — the  feeling  of  saying  goodbye  to  friends,  animate 
and  inanimate,  that  I  have  known  and  made  part  of  my  life  for 
some  years.  ...  I  don't  think  my  ten  years  in  the  west  wholly 
wasted — though  doubtless  they  might  have  been  better  used.  ...  I 
have  gained  much  experience  of  men  and  affairs — more  valued  is 
my  understanding  of  the  vast,  sprawling  energy,  the  idealism,  the 
crudity  and  the  generosity  of  a  country  like  America." 

And  Frewen  Castle  Rock"  (named  by  the  Frewens  long  ago 
and  looking  from  a  distance  like  one  of  their  own  beloved  castles 
in  England)  still  stands  a  silent,  lasting  memorial  to  the  gay 
Frewen  Brothers,  "who  had  such  a  wonderful  time  here  and  lost 
200,000  pounds  between  them." 

We  also  must  remember  that  it  was  these  Englishmen  who 
brought  Johnson  County  into  the  limelight  in  England  and  France. 
Johnson  County  was  then  as  well  known  in  London  as  Washington, 
D.  C,  and  cowboys  from  Powder  River  were  a  common  sight  on 
the  streets  of  London.  These  same  English  cattlemen  made 
Powder  River  beef  famous  throughout  the  world  for  its  texture 
and  flavor. 

The  big  cowman  played  an  important  role  in  western  history. 
He  brought  millions  of  dollars  of  foreign  capital  into  the  "Great 
American  Desert",  paving  the  way  for  the  development  of  our 
present  livestock  business.  His  venture  proved  that  the  grama, 
the  sod  or  bunch  and  the  mountain  blue  stem  grasses  covering 
our  rangeland  sticking  up  so  withered-like  and  yellow  through  the 
snow,  was  exceedingly  valuable  as  winter  feed  for  livestock.  He 
brought  to  light  the  hitherto  undiscovered  fact  that  our  dry  climate 
has  a  most  beneficial  effect  in  curing  these  grasses  on  the  ground, 
giving  them  high  nutritive  value.  The  big  cowman  proved  what 
California  Joe,  an  old  trapper  and  scout,  so  aptly  said  years  ago, 
"There's  gold  from  the  grass  roots  down,  but  there's  more  gold 
from  the  grass  roots  up." 


IL  Frewen  Castle  Rock  is  plainly  visible  from  hiway  87,  several  miles 
west  of  the  Middle  Fork  of  Powder  River  bridge. 


66 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


OREGON   TRAIL  TREK    NO  4 
September  26,  19S4 


Maurine    Carley 
~  HISTORIAN 


H 


:  'i£* 


WYOMING    PiOrjEEf 

ASSOCiATION 

SPONSOR 


SKETCH    OF  SWEETWATEH    STATION 
Idaho     Terrifory 
By    Bugler    C,  Moellmari,  nth  Ohio  Cav. 


Oregon  Zrail  Zrek  J^o,  Jour 

Compiled  by 

Maurine  Carley,  Trek  Historian 

September  26,  1954 

Caravan 46  cars 

Note:  Numbers  preceding  "M"  indicate  miles  on  the  map  west 
from  the  Nebraska-Wyoming  line.  This  trek  began  at  old 
Fort  Casper,  crossed  to  the  north  side  of  the  river,  followed 
the  river  route  for  2Vi  miles,  branched  to  the  right  and 
followed  the  middle  route  for  1  Vi  miles,  took  the  ridge  road 
to  Emigrant  Gap,  and  from  there  followed  the  north  route. 
More  than  90%  of  the  emigrant  roads  are  visible  today, 
but  fences  and  ditches  make  it  necessary  to  use  the  present 
highx^ays  for  the  most  part. 

OFFICERS 

Gen.  R.  L.  Esmay ...In  command  of  military  escort. 

Col.  Wm.  P.  Bradley ..Captain  of  caravan. 

Maj.  H.  W.  Lloyd Registrar. 

Frank  Murphy Wagon  boss. 

Lyle  Hildebrand Assistant  wagon  boss. 

Maurine  Carley Historian. 

Keith  Rider Photographer  and  Press. 

Col.  A.  R.  Boyack ...Chaplain. 

9:00  A.M.  Following  a  salute  by  a  firing  squad  at  the  Fort 
Casper  Cemetery,  the  Chaplain,  Colonel  Boyack,  led  the  group  in 
prayer. 

9:10  A.M.  The  caravan  left  old  Fort  Casper  (153  M.  south 
side  and  138  M.  north  side  road.  From  this  point  the  south  side 
mileage  is  used.) 

9:15  A.M.  Arrived  at  155  M.  on  top  of  a  ridge.  Halted  ten 
minutes  to  examine  old  ruts.  Here  one  branch  of  the  old  road 
turns  to  the  right.  The  so-called  Red  Buttes  Battle  was  probably 
fought  on  this  ridge. 

Mr.  Lester  Bagley  gave  the  following  interesting  facts  about  this 
part  of  the  country. 

We  have  proceeded  approximately  two  miles  from  Fort  Casper, 
the  location  of  Old  Platte  Bridge.  We  are  now  on  one  branch  of 
the  old  Oregon  Trail.    Just  as  we  topped  the  ridge  a  short  distance 


68  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

back,  another  branch  of  this  trail  took  off  northwest.  This  road 
can  be  seen  if  we  look  to  the  north  a  short  distance.  There  was 
another^- Voad — sometimes  called  the  "River  Road"  which  was 
down  closer  to  the  river.  It  was  this  road  that  was  probably 
used  first  and  was  the  one  used  bv  the  Mormon  Pioneer  company 
of  1847. 

Before  proceeding  with  further  detailed  description  of  this  area, 
permit  me  to  return  to  Fort  Casper  and  the  old  Platte  Bridge  loca- 
tion. From  1847  to  1859  this  place  was  known  as  the  Mormon 
Ferry.  From  1859  to  1865  it  was  known  as  Platte  Bridge.  In 
1865,  following  the  death  of  Lieutenant  Caspar  W.  Collins,  it  was 
re-named  Fort  Casper. 

This  area  is  very  rich  in  history.  It  is  probable  that  the  first 
white  men  to  traverse  this  river  were  members  of  the  Robert 
Stuart  party  as  they  returned  from  Astoria  in  1812. 

A  continuous  parade  of  trappers,  traders  and  home-seekers 
passed  this  point  for  the  next  fifty  years.  In  the  early  summer  of 
1836  the  first  white  women  came  West  over  this  Trail.  They 
were  the  wives  of  Dr.  Marcus  Whitman  and  H.  H.  Spaulding,  who 
were  missionaries  en  route  to  the  Pacific  Northwest. 

Father  DeSmet,  Catholic  priest  and  missionary,  passed  this  way 
in  the  early  summer  of  1840,  proceeding  on  to  the  Green  River 
where  he  conducted  the  first  Catholic  Mass  in  the  State  of  Wyo- 
ming at  the  rendezvous  near  the  present  town  of  Daniel. 

The  first  large  migration  started  in  the  spring  of  1843.  At  this 
time  there  were  some  of  the  emigrants  headed  for  California  as 
well  as  the  Northwest. 

The  first  ferry  was  operated  at  Fort  Casper,  probably  a  short 
distance  above  the  Platte  bridge  location.  The  first  ferry  consisted 
of  two  rude  rafts  upon  which  the  wagons  were  pulled  across  by 
ropes.  Within  a  few  days  a  ferry  was  constructed  upon  which  a 
wagon  could  be  driven  or  rolled  and  taken  across  with  load  intact. 

A  bridge  was  built  below  this  point  and  known  as  the  Reshaw 
bridge.  The  famous  Platte  bridge  was  built  during  the  winter  of 
1858-59  by  Louis  Guinard  at  an  original  cost  of  $30,000.00.  It 
was  estimated  that  an  additional  $30,000.00  was  spent  on  the 
bridge  before  it  was  abandoned  on  October  19,  1867.  The  bridge 
was  burned  by  the  Indians  a  few  days  later. 

In  1858  a  small  fort  named  Platte  Bridge  was  located  where  the 
present  restoration  of  Fort  Casper  now  stands  across  the  river.  A 
small  garrison  was  placed  here  but  was  withdrawn  in  1859  and 
not  replaced  until  1862. 

On  July  26,  1865,  Lieutenant  Caspar  W.  Collins  led  a  relief 
party  from  Platte  Bridge  Station  to  the  aid  of  a  wagon  train  from 
the  Sweetwater  Station.  Platte  Bridge  Station  was  surrounded  by 
a  large  force  of  Indians  who  attacked  Collins  and  his  party.  The 
young  lieutenant  was  killed  in  the  ensuing  skirmish,  and  the  post 


OREGON  TRAIL  TREK  NO.  FOUR  69 

was  renamed  in  his  honor.  Through  an  error  in  the  War  Depart- 
ment orders  the  name  of  the  fort  was  spelled  Casper,  the  spelling 
still  used  today. 

9:20  A.M.  The  caravan  continued  on  left  of  river  road  to  the 
bottom  of  the  hill,  then  took  the  right  hand  present-day  dirt  road 
to  intersect  the  center  branch. 

9:40  A.M.  Arrived  on  the  center  branch  where  there  are  20 
gravestones  and  a  cemetery  with  no  graves.  The  Red  Buttes 
Battle  marker  is  located  here. 

Mr.  W.  W.  Morrison  related  the  story  of  the  sad  fate  of  Ser- 
geant Custard  and  his  men. 

At  about  11 :00  o'clock,  on  the  morning  of  July  26,  1865,  some 
men  stationed  at  Platte  Bridge  Station  saw  a  wagon  train  coming 
toward  the  Fort  from  the  west.  The  train  was  then  on  a  hill  some 
4  or  5  miles  distant. 

A  short  way  ahead  of  the  wagon  train  were  5  men  on  horseback, 
acting  as  advance  guard.  This  was  the  wagon  train  of  Sgt.  Amos 
J.  Custard,  and  23  men  who  had  started  from  the  Sweetwater 
Station  and  were  making  their  way  to  Platte  Bridge  Station. 

The  soldiers  at  Platte  Bridge  Station  knew  they  could  not  make 
their  way  through  the  thousands  of  Indians  to  help  them,  so  in 
order  to  warn  those  in  the  wagon  train  of  the  danger  which  lay 
ahead  they  fired  an  old  brass  cannon  twice.  The  men  in  Sergeant 
Custard's  wagon  train  heard  the  warning,  but  almost  at  the  same 
time  they  saw  a  great  many  Indians  coming  toward  them. 

The  wagon  train  kept  on  coming,  however,  with  all  possible 
haste,  until  it  reached  a  point  about  4  miles  due  west  from  the 
Fort. 

The  advance  guard  of  5  men,  in  charge  of  Corporal  James  W. 
Shrader,  made  a  run  for  the  river,  which  was  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  to  the  south. 

The  diary  of  Lieutenant  Y.  Drew,  who  took  an  important  part 
in  the  activities  at  the  Fort  on  this  unforgettable  day,  is  as  follows : 
"From  the  roof  of  the  Station  and  with  the  aid  of  a  large  spy-glass, 
we  had  a  pretty  good  view  of  what  was  going  on  at  the  train.  The 
train  had  stopped  on  a  side  hill  and  with  three  wagons  they  had 
formed  three  sides  of  a  square  with  one  front  facing  up  the  hill 
to  the  north,  one  facing  east  and  one  south.  The  west  side  was 
open.  The  first  Indians  that  came  on  to  the  scene  of  action 
charged  right  on  to  the  train,  but  was  repulsed,  and  as  more  of 
them  arrived  they  again  made  a  charge,  but  were  again  driven 
back.  After  this  for  a  long  time  there  did  not  seem  to  be  much 
action  going  on;  and  every  once  in  a  while  we  would  see  a  puff  of 
smoke  from  the  wagons  or  from  the  side  hill  below  the  wagons 
which  showed  that  the  fight  was  still  going  on,  but  we  could  not 
tell  with  what  results,  though  we  noticed  that  the  puffs  of  smoke 


70  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

from  the  hillside  on  the  south  were  getting  closer  and  closer,  and 
we  felt  that  the  end  could  not  be  far  off.  Never,  never  in  all  our 
services  as  soldiers  had  we  ever  experienced  anything  like  this 
before.  To  know  that  about  twenty  of  our  comrades,  with  whom 
for  nearly  three  years  we  had  been  soldiering  in  the  South,  were 
now  within  two  and  a  half  miles  of  us,  surrounded  by  an  over- 
whelming number  of  enemies,  determined  on  their  destruction, 
and  were  not  able  to  do  anything  for  their  relief.  Some  of  us 
went  to  Major  Anderson  and  requested  that  about  forty  or  fifty 
of  us  might  be  allowed  to  volunteer  and  go  out  on  foot  to  attempt 
their  rescue,  but  the  ma^'or,  while  feeling  deeply  for  the  gallant 
fellows  that  were  making  such  a  good  fight  against  the  tremendous 
odds  opposed  to  them,  yet  realizing  how  futile  would  have  been 
our  attempt  for  their  relief,  and  the  probability  that  all  who  started 
out  would  have  shared  the  same  fate  as  those  with  the  train,  and 
that  then  the  garrison  would  have  been  so  weakened  that  after  our 
destruction  it  would  have  been  an  easy  matter  for  the  Indians  to 
have  taken  the  station  and  massacred  all  that  were  left.  .  .  . 

"Just  about  the  time  Lieutenant  Walker's  party  had  started  from 
the  station,  [which  was  shortly  after  3:00  P.M.  with  20  men  to 
go  east  of  Platte  Bridge  Station  2  miles  to  repair  the  telegraph 
lines]  we  noticed  that  the  firing  had  ceased  at  the  train,  and  very 
soon  a  large  smoke  arose,  and  we  saw  that  the  wagons  were 
burning.  We  knew  then  that  the  fighting  was  all  over,  and  that 
the  brave  men  who  had  so  well  defended  themselves  were  all  dead. 
They  had  made  a  gallant  fight  for  four  full  hours,  but  had  been 
overpowered  at  last. 

"The  Indians  stayed  about  the  place  where  the  train  had  been 
until  nearly  nightfall,  and  then  a  great  many  of  them  moved  back 
to  the  bluff  north  of  the  river." 

S.  H.  Fairfield,  who  was  detailed  as  a  clerk  in  the  Quarter- 
master's Dept.  was  stationed  at  Deer  Creek,  and  was  among  those 
who  reached  Platte  Bridge  Station  on  July  27,  1865.  In  his  diary 
he  writes:  "On  the  afternoon  of  the  27th,  twenty-five  of  us  boys, 
under  Lieut.  Paul  Grimm,  went  out  in  search  of  Sergeant  Custard 
and  his  men.  We  followed  the  telegraph  road  among  the  hills. 
Several  miles  from  the  bridge  we  came  to  a  washout,  where  the 
boys  had  made  a  stand. 

"On  three  sides  the  embankment  was  three  or  four  feet  high, 
but  on  the  west  there  was  only  slight  protection.  Onto  this  wash- 
out they  had  driven  one  of  their  wagons,  and  from  behind  such 
meager  embankments  the  poor  fellows  fought  for  their  lives  for 
five  long  hours.  Here  we  found  the  mangled  and  mutilated  bodies 
of  Sereeant  Custard  and  his  eighteen  men.  Seventeen  of  them  had 
been  left  lying  upon  their  faces,  their  bodies  pinioned  to  the  ground 
^vith  long  SDcars.  They  had  been  stripped  and  cut  up  in  a  shock- 
ing manner.  The  wagoner  was  strapped  to  his  feed-box,  and  hot 
irons  from  the  hubs  of  the  wagon-wheels  were  placed  along  his 


OREGON  TRAIL  TREK  NO.  FOUR  71 

back,  apparently  when  he  was  ahve.  The  charred  remains  of  one 
man  were  among  the  coals  where  the  wagon  was  burned.  The 
next  day  another  detail  of  twenty-five  men,  under  command  of 
Lieutenant  Hubbard,  went  out  and  buried  the  poor  fellows  where 
they  had  sacrificed  their  lives  so  dearly.  A  long  ditch  was  dug 
and  lined  with  blankets.  In  it  the  dead  were  laid  side  by  side, 
with  rubber  blankets  spread  over  them,  and  then  the  bodies  were 
covered  with  sands  of  the  desert." 

Now  back  to  the  advance  guard  of  five  msn  with  Corporal 
James  W.  Shrader  in  charge.  These  men  reached  the  river,  and, 
plunging  their  horses  into  the  stream,  started  for  the  south  bank. 
One  of  the  men,  James  Bellew,  was  shot  and  fell  from  his  horse 
when  he  was  about  thirty  yards  from  the  south  bank.  His  body 
was  never  found.  The  remaining  four  crossed  over,  and  had  gone 
less  than  a  mile  when  one  of  them,  Edwin  Summers,  was  shot  and 
killed.  The  three  remaining  men.  Corporal  Shrader,  Bryan  Swain 
and  Henry  Smith  continued  to  work  their  way  toward  the  Fort. 

When  about  half  way  to  the  Fort  they  came  in  contact  with 
four  or  five  Indians.  The  men  shot  two  of  them,  and  then  turned 
their  horses  toward  the  southeast  and  rode  hard  and  fast  until  they 
came  to  a  deep  ravine  with  some  brush  on  the  banks.  There  they 
abandoned  their  horses  and  started  working  their  way  down 
through  the  brush  and  ravine  which  led  in  the  direction  of  the  Fort. 
While  working  their  way  in  this  ravine.  Corporal  Shrader,  raised 
his  head  to  look  out  and  was  struck  in  the  top  of  his  skull  with  a 
bullet.  He  dropped,  but  the  other  two  men  restored  him  to  con- 
sciousness by  bathing  his  head. 

The  next  time  they  took  survey  of  the  situation  by  looking  out, 
they  could  see  no  Indians  in  sight,  except  two  or  three  who  were 
standing  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  away.  They  made  a  run 
for  the  last  gully  nearer  the  Fort.  It  was  then  that  some  of  the 
soldiers  at  the  Fort  noticed  them,  and  some  fifteen  started  on  foot 
to  help  them.  As  the  men  started  on  foot  to  assist  the  three  men 
some  fifteen  or  twenty  Indians  came  up  out  of  the  gully  in  which 
the  soldiers  had  just  left  and  attempted  to  head  the  three  men  off. 
The  men  coming  from  the  Fort  called  to  the  three  to  head  down 
the  ravine.  It  was  not  long  until  they  came  out  of  the  ravine  and 
were  running  toward  the  soldiers  from  the  Post. 

On  July  28  th  Corporal  Shrader  was  sent  out  on  the  South  side 
of  the  river  to  find  and  bury  the  bodies  of  Summers  and  Bellew. 
He  found  the  body  of  Summers  about  a  mile  south  of  the  river, 
where  he  dug  a  grave  and  buried  it.  The  body  of  Bellew  was 
never  found.  The  exact  spot  where  Sergeant  Custard  and  his 
brave  men  were  buried  is  not  known.  Sixty-one  years  after  the 
massacre,  Corporal  Shrader  returned  to  the  scene  and  attempted  to 
locate  the  spot,  but  the  condition  of  the  country  had  changed  so 
much  that  he  could  not  do  it. 

Records  in  the  War  Department  designate  this  massacre  as  the 


72  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

"Wagon  Train  Fight  of  Sergeant  Custard."  Colonel  Dennison  who 
was  with  the  Eleventh  Kansas  Cavalry  at  the  time  says  the  battle 
ground  where  the  men  fell,  and  where  they  were  buried  was  given 
the  name  of  "Custard's  Hill"  by  their  comrades.  Sometimes  it  is 
called  "The  Battle  of  Red  Buttes"  which  ought  not  to  be.  Some- 
where here,  near  where  we  are  now  standing,  nineteen  fine  young 
Americans  fought  three  thousand  Indians  for  more  than  four  hours 
before  the  savages  finally  closed  in  on  them.  It  was  one  of  the 
bravest  and  most  gallant  battles  ever  fought  on  American  soil,  or 
on  foreign  soil  as  far  as  that  goes. 

Today,  after  89  years,  we  pay  tribute  to  those  brave  men  and 
to  the  other  brave  men  who  lost  their  lives  in  this  vicinity  on  that 
July  day  in  1865 — twenty-seven  in  all.  The  very  soil  here  is 
stained  with  their  blood.    May  we  remember  them  evermore. 

9:50  A.M.  Departed  from  this  spot  on  the  center  route  to 
ISHVi  M.  where  the  river  road  from  the  S.  W.  enters,  and  one 
branch  goes  S.  W.  to  where  Poison  Spider  Creek  enters  the  Platte 
near  the  old  Goose  Egg  Ranch  House.  We  took  the  right  hand 
road  along  the  Emigrant  Gap  ridge  to  Emigrant  Gap.  At  about 
160  M.  a  plain  branch  road  enters  from  the  S.  W. 

10:20  A.M.  ,  Arrived  at  Emigrant  Gap  163i4  M.  Here  Mr. 
Clark  Bishop  made  a  short  talk  in  which  he  explained  that  a 
branch  of  the  old  road  came  along  near  the  Poison  Spider  road 
from  Casper  and  joined  the  ridge  road  at  this  point.  We  then 
continued  S.  W.  on  Poison  SDider  road  about  3V^  miles.  (The  old 
Emigrant  Road  left  this  road  to  the  S.  W.  at  164V^  M.,  then  turned 
south  one  mile  on  what  is  known  as  Bessemer  Bend  road.  Then  to 
S.  W.  on  so-called  Oregon  Trail  road  to  171 1/2  M.  where  we  again 
entered  the  old  Emigrant  road.  At  llSVi  M.  we  were  in  Rock 
Avenue  as  described  in  some  of  the  Diaries.) 

11 :45  A.M.    Arrived  at  Willow  Springs  175 1/2  M. 

Mrs.  Clark  Bishop  read  a  paper  written  by  Mr.  Paul  Henderson^ 
who  was  unable  to  be  present. 

Today  we  are  having  lunch  at  Willow  Springs,  an  old  camping 
ground  and  an  outstanding  spot  on  the  old  Oregon-Mormon- 
California  Trail.  They  all  came  this  way.  To  them  it  was  an 
"Oasis  in  the  desert"  where  good  cold  water,  fine  grass  and  some 
trees  were  found  out  in  the  center  of  a  semi-desert  region  on  a 
natural  "cut  off  route  between  the  old  upper  crossing  or  Mormon 
Ferry  site  on  the  North  Platte  river  and  Independence  Rock,  on 
the  Sweetwater  river. 

Those  springs,  like  Ash  Hollow  in  Nebraska,  received  their 
name  from  the  native  trees  found  growing  here.  They  were  dis- 
covered by  the  early  fur  traders  and  trappers  more  than  a  century 
and  a  quarter  ago. 

From  the  early  diaries  and  copies  of  Emigrant  Guide  books  we 


OREGON  TRAIL  TREK  NO.   FOUR  73 

find  the  following,  giving  these  springs  their  place  in  the  itinerary 
of  the  natural  landmarks  along  the  way  in  this  section  of  the 
country :  First  from  the  Upper  Crossing  of  the  Platte  were :  Mineral 
Springs  and  small  creek,  Rock  Avenue,  Alkali  Springs,  Willow 
Springs,  Prospect  Hill,  Alkali  Swamp,  Greasewood  Creek,  Inde- 
pendence Rock,  and  Sweetwater  River — approximately  49  miles 
from  rvier  to  river  with  Willow  Springs  about  midway. 

Let  us  take  a  quick  glance  in  the  past  at  some  of  the  scenes  that 
have  transpired  here. 

Two  hundred  years  ago  we  would  find  the  Crow  Indians  here, 
claiming  the  country,  as  well  as  some  Shoshones.  In  the  1820-30 
period  we  would  see  the  early  fur  traders  and  trappers,  and  a  little 
later  some  of  the  fur  brigades  with  pack  animals  loaded  with 
Indian  trade  goods  bound  for  the  rendezvous  grounds.  In  a  later 
caravan  we  would  see  the  Whitmans  and  Spaldings,  and  shortly 
thereafter  the  beginning  of  the  covered  wagon  emigrant  trains. 
The  Latter  Day  Saints  followed  this  trail  to  the  Salt  Lake  valley, 
as  did  the  '49'ers  who  were  enroute  to  the  gold  fields  of  California. 
Detachments  of  troops,  the  stage  coaches,  the  Pony  Express  riders, 
the  great  bull  outfits  with  their  heavy  ox-drawn  freight  wagons,  all 
paused  for  a  rest  and  to  "water-up"  before  commencing  ascent  of 
the  "Hill  one  mile  up."  In  1861  came  the  "singing  wires"  of  the 
transcontinental  telegraph.    Willow  Springs  has  witnessed  all  this. 

After  grace  by  the  Chaplain  lunch  was  enjoyed,  although  it  was 
hot  and  there  were  no  trees.  At  11:30  A.M.  we  continued  up 
Prospect  Hill  for  about  1 V2  miles.  At  186  M.  we  passed  to  the 
north  of  what  was  Poison  Springs. 

At  18614  M.  we  left  the  old  road  to  our  south,  and  continued 
to  189V^  M.  where  it  appeared  on  the  south  of  our  road.  From 
there  we  crossed  and  recrossed  it  several  times  to  193  M.  where 
it  crossed  Horse  Creek  some  500  feet  north  of  the  road.  We  con- 
tinued on  or  near  the  old  road  to  about  198  M.  where  we  left  the 
old  trail  to  our  left  then  took  the  oiled  highway. 

1:00  P.M.  Arrived  at  the  Sweetwater  Station  site  where  Edness 
KimbaU  Wilkins  gave  the  following  interesting  account  of  the  old 
Station. 

Sweetwater  Station  should  be  very  close  to  the  hearts  of  us 
Casper  people,  and  to  all  of  us  who  live  along  the  trail  we  have 
just  covered,  because  here  was  the  official  station  of  young  Lt. 
Caspar  Collins  who  was  killed  in  battle  leading  a  forlorn  hope 
against  the  Indians  near  the  Platte  Bridge  Station.  Fort  Casper, 
and  our  own  city  and  mountain  and  Casper  Creek,  are  named  in 
his  honor. 

You  remember  the  story:  He  had  left  Sweetwater  Station  on  a 
journey  to  Fort  Laramie,  to  draw  more  horses  for  his  men,  and 


74  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

on  his  return  stopped  over  night  at  Platte  Bridge  Station  ( later 
Fort  Casper). 

At  the  same  time.  Captain  Bretney  and  ten  men  arrived  there 
from  the  Sweetwater  Station  where  we  now  stand,  on  his  way  to 
meet  the  paymaster  and  receive  the  pay  for  the  men. 

And  again  this  Sweetwater  Station  enters  the  story,  because 
the  Custard  Wagon  Train,  with  Sergeant  Custard  and  23  men, 
was  returning  from  this  Station  where  we  now  stand.  It  was  this 
train  that  Lt.  Collins  was  ordered  to  rescue,  although  he  was  not 
stationed  at  Platte  Bridge  nor  was  he  under  command  of  Major 
Anderson,  the  new  Commanding  officer. 

Also  that  day  at  the  Platte  Bridge  Station  was  Caspar's  best 
friend,  John  Friend,  the  telegrapher  from  this  Sweetwater  station. 
John  Friend  and  Captain  Bretney  tried  to  dissuade  young  Collins 
from  obeying  orders,  pointing  out  that  he  was  not  attached  to  that 
post,  that  the  men  he  was  to  lead  were  strangers  to  him,  and  that 
it  was  very  bad  judgment  on  the  part  of  Major  Anderson.  Collins 
knew  all  of  these  things  well,  and  knew  undoubtedly  that  he  was 
facing  certain  death,  but  he  said  he  was  a  soldier  and  the  son  of  a 
soldier  and  must  obey  an  order.  So  he  made  his  last  farewell  to 
John  Friend  and  Captain  Bretney,  borrowed  Bretney's  pistols, 
mounted  a  strange  horse,  and,  dressed  in  his  new  uniform,  gallantly 
led  the  27  men  against  a  horde  of  thousands  of  Indians.  He  and 
four  of  the  men  he  was  leading  were  killed.  Sergeant  Custard  and 
19  of  his  men  were  killed.  The  order  had  been  a  tragic  mistake 
made  by  Major  Anderson  who  was  apparently  new  to  the  Indiap 
country  and  resentful  of  advice  from  experienced  but  younget 
officers. 

The  establishment  here  of  the  Sweetwater  Station,  and  others 
along  the  Overland  Trail,  was  the  result  of  the  building  of  the 
telegraph  line.  You  have  been  hearing  earlier  of  the  Oregon  Trail 
and  the  migration  of  half  a  million  people  over  this  route  on  their 
way  to  California  or  Oregon.  One  of  the  great  problems  of  the 
early  days  on  the  frontier  was  lack  of  communication  with  the 
East.  Letters  to  various  army  posts  were  usually  sent  to  Fort 
Leavenworth,  and  then  forwarded  whenever  possible.  Many  never 
arrived.  A  stage  line  for  mail  was  finally  established  in  1851, 
carrying  mail  and  packages  from  St.  Louis  to  Salt  Lake  City.  The 
Government  contract  required  the  round-trip  journey  to  be  made 
in  42  days,  and  after  a  time  the  trip  was  made  twice  a  month. 
Passengers  were  also  carried. 

With  the  great  emigration  and  settlement  of  the  West,  military 
protection  was  required,  and  to  supply  the  soldiers  at  the  various 
posts  and  transport  provisions  to  the  settlers  and  emigrants,  big 
freighting  outfits  were  organized.  One  company,  by  1858,  had 
at  work  on  the  western  plains  3500  wagons,  40,000  oxen,  and 
4,000  employes.  This  company  bought  the  stage  line,  and  by 
spring  of  1  859  had  a  daily  passenger  and  mail  service  operating. 


OREGON  TRAIL  TREK  NO.   FOUR  75 

A  new  empire  was  building  in  the  West — California.  But  back 
beyond  the  Mississippi,  Civil  War  was  ready  to  burst  into  flame. 

A  struggle  to  hold  California  in  the  Union  was  underway,  but 
2000  miles  of  unsettled  land  stretched  between.  Fast  communica- 
tion was  needed — and  so  the  Pony  Express  was  formed;  the  trip 
from  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  to  Sacramento,  California,  was  now 
made  in  less  than  10  days.  The  mail  schedule  had  been  cut  in 
half. 

But  still  faster  communication  was  needed,  so  the  Government 
offered  a  subsidy  of  $40,000  a  year  for  10  years  to  the  builder  of 
the  first  telegraph  line  across  the  plains.  It  was  completed  Octo- 
ber 24,  1861,  and  sounded  the  knell  of  the  Pony  Express.  The 
dashing  figure,  flying  from  station  to  station  in  face  of  storm  and 
death  itself,  became  only  a  memory. 

Telegraph  stations  were  built  at  many  places  across  the  present 
State  of  Wyoming,  which  was  then  known  as  Idaho  Territory,  and 
here  where  we  stand  today  was  one  of  them — Sweetwater  Station. 

The  Indians  soon  realized  the  value  of  the  telegraph  line  to  the 
white  man,  and  the  threat  to  themselves,  and  they  were  constantly 
cutting  the  wires,  tearing  down  the  poles,  burning  the  stations 
and  killing  the  men.  It  was  necessary  to  station  soldiers  at  the 
telegraph  stations  along  this  route. 

In  1861  the  Civil  War  took  the  regular  soldiers  from  their  sta- 
tions in  the  West  to  fight  in  the  South;  the  Indians  that  had  been 
attacking  in  small  groups  now  formed  into  large  bands;  they 
attacked  the  stage  lines  and  telegraph  stations,  captured  the  horses, 
mules  and  stores,  killed  the  agents  and  settlers. 

Colonel  Collins,  father  of  Caspar  Collins,  back  in  Ohio  volun- 
teered for  service  in  the  Civil  War  and  was  appointed  a  colonel  of 
volunteer  cavalry  commanding  troops  from  Ohio.  But  instead  of 
fighting  in  the  South  as  he  had  expected,  he  was  sent  with  his 
troops  to  fight  Indians  in  the  Far  West.  Caspar,  a  boy  of  16  or 
17,  went  with  his  father.  His  letters  to  his  mother  are  filled  with 
the  enthusiasm  of  a  boy  over  the  wild  game,  the  birds  and  the 
country. 

[In  illustration  Mrs.  Wilkins  read  a  letter  written  by  Caspar 
Collins  from  Sweetwater  Bridge  June  16,  1862.  The  letter  is 
quoted  in  full  in  Caspar  Collins  by  Agnes  Wright  Spring,  Columbia 
University  Press,  1927,  pages  116-119.] 

Two  years  later  Caspar  Collins  had  entered  the  army  and  was 
commissioned  a  second  lieutenant.  He  was  then  nineteen  years 
old.  He  was  in  charge  of  four  stations,  with  headquarters  here  at 
Sweetwater,  protecting  the  telegraph  line  and  escorting  emigrant 
trains,  and  here  is  the  description  he  sent  his  Uncle,  December  13, 
1864,  written  from  Fort  Laramie: 

"I  am  now  stationed  on  Sweetwater  River,  a  tributary  of  the 
Platte.    I  have  four  block  stations  under  my  charge.    The  first  is 


76  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Sweetwater  Bridge,  the  bridge  by  which  the  emigrants  cross  the 
river  on  their  way  to  Cahfornia  and  Oregon;  the  second  is  Three 
Crossings  of  Sweetwater;  the  third,  Rocky  Ridge;  and  the  fourth 
is  South  Pass.  I  make  my  headquarters  at  the  first.  I  was  sum- 
moned down  here  on  a  court-martial  and  came  down  in  five  days, 
two  hundred  and  twenty  miles,  by  myself  most  of  the  way,  but  I 
had  places  to  sleep  at  night.  .  .  . 

"From  my  station  to  the  upper  one,  it  is  one  hundred  and  four 
miles,  and  I  have  to  ride  it  and  back  about  every  two  weeks,  so  it 
keeps  me  pretty  busy.  We  have  plenty  of  game  up  there  by  riding 
about  20  or  25  miles  for  it.  There  are  buffalo,  elk,  mountain 
sheep,  black-tailed  deer  and  antelope.  There  is  plenty  of  antelope 
close  by  the  station,  but  they  have  lived  so  much  on  sage  brush 
that  they  taste  of  it.  .  .  . 

( Lieutenant  Collins  in  this  letter  enclosed  a  sketch  of  the  Sweet- 
water Station  and  a  description  of  almost  every  detail  of  the  sta- 
tion and  its  surroundings)  his  letter  continues: 

"The  post  was  built  by  Co.  D  and  intended  as  quarters  for  forty 
men.  But  I  have  only  twenty  there  now.  It  is  situated  on  a  hill 
about  50  yards  from  the  Sweetwater  River  and  overlooking  the 
bridge.  The  second  assistant  surgeon  of  the  regiment  is  stationed 
with  me.  The  next  station  above  is  Three  Crossings  and  is  situated 
on  the  same  river  forty  miles  above.  .  .  . 

"It  is  also  surrounded  by  a  palisade,  varying  from  12  to  15  feet 
high,  and  surmounted  by  a  large  lookout  and  block  house  that 
sweeps  the  surrounding  country.  The  next  post  above,  thirty-nine 
miles,  is  Rocky  Ridge  or  Saint  Mary's.  Although  it  is  the  depot 
station  of  the  telegraph  company,  it  is  not  surrounded  by  a  pali- 
sade. But  it  is  a  place  never  visited  by  Indians,  hostile  or  friendly. 
Twenty-five  miles  above  is  the  last  military  station  in  the  depart- 
ment. It  is  situated  on  the  same  river  near  a  rapid  Rocky  Moun- 
tain Stream  .  .  .  and  in  the  center  of  the  renowed  South  Pass.  I 
made  the  first  trip  from  Sweetwater  to  Souht  Pass  and  back  in 
five  days — going  the  first  night  to  Three  Crossings;  the  second  to 
Rocky  Ridge;  the  third  to  South  Pass  and  back  to  Rocky  Ridge; 
the  fourth  back  to  Three  Crossings;  and  the  fifth,  home.  .  .  .'" 

On  April  18,  1865,  Caspar  Collins  wrote  from  Sweetwater 
Bridge  Station  to  his  mother,  "There  is  now  a  very  large  number 
of  troops  on  the  road  coming  out  here.  The  11th  Kansas  is 
between  here  and  Fort  Laramie.  We  have  this  post  well  defended. 
I  had  the  men  at  work  for  several  weeks,  and  it  is  now  invulnerable 
to  the  "noble"  aborigines  of  this  section.  Twenty-six  men  are 
stationed  here.     General  Connor,  of  California,  is  now  in  com- 


1.  Caspar  Collins  by  Agnes  Wright  Springs,  Columbia  University  Press, 
1927.  pages  158-161. 


OREGON   TRAIL  TREK   NO.   FOUR  77 

mand  of  this  department.  One  of  the  men  belonging  to  this  post 
was  killed  about  the  middle  of  March,  between  here  and  Platte 
Bridge — Philip  Roads,  son  of  Henry  S.  Roads,  of  Paint  Township, 
Highland  County  [Ohio].  He  and  another  man  were  coming  up 
with  a  load  of  rations  with  a  four-mule  team.  The  escort  that  was 
with  them,  having  passed  what  the  commander  of  the  squad 
thought  the  dangerous  part  of  the  ground,  turned  back.  Four 
Indians,  who  claimed  to  be  Arapahoes,  came  up  to  the  wagon  and 
commenced  talking  with  them.  The  Irtdians  suddenly  fired  in 
concert,  and  killed  him  instantly  and,  strange  to  say,  the  other  boy 
escaped  with  nothing  but  a  ball  or  arrow  hole  through  his  blouse. 
He  seized  a  gun  and  kept  the  Indians  at  bay  for  the  balance  of 
the  afternoon.  As  he  had  two  Spencer  rifles,  the  Indians  kept  on 
the  brow  of  the  hill  and  contented  themselves  with  firing  from  a 
safe  position,  filling  the  wagon  body  full  of  bullet  holes.  At  dark 
he  saddled  the  horse  that  was  with  the  team  and  struck  for  this 
post,  thirty  miles  distant,  under  cover  of  night.  He  arrived  here  a 
little  after  midnight,  when  we  started  in  pursuit.  It  was  so 
intensely  cold  that  we  had  to  walk  much  of  the  way.  We  arrived 
at  the  scene  of  action  about  daylight,  but  the  Indians  had  fled, 
after  stripping  the  dead  man  and  wagon  and  loading  the  mules 
with  plunder.  We  followed  the  trail  until  a  windstorm  came  on 
and  obscured  it  entirely.  I  do  not  think  I  ever  suffered  so  much 
with  the  cold  in  my  life.  Two  of  the  men  were  so  nearly  frozen 
that  we  had  to  take  them  off  their  horses,  leaving  only  two  of  us 
for  duty.  .  .  . 

"I  would  write  oftener,  but  it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  letters 
from  here  to  Fort  Laramie,  the  road  being  unsafe  for  mail  carriers, 
and  large  bodies  of  men  cannot  be  spared  from  the  posts  on  this 
road.  .  .  . 

A  postscript  added  "If  anything  happens  to  me,  I  will  telegraph: 
C.  W.  C" 

It  was  a  prophetic  ending,  for  three  months  later  he  was  dead. 

In  the  meantime  the  station  had  been  attacked  time  after  time 
by  the  Indians. 

You  will  remember  that  he  mentioned  in  this  letter  that  more 
troops  were  expected,  but  the  great  increase  did  not  materialize. 
His  own  and  many  other  small  garrisons  were  fighting  against 
tremendous  numbers  of  Indians,  an  almost  hopeless  war. 

The  Civil  War  had  ended,  and  the  demand  was  underway  for 
economy,  for  cutting  down  the  army,  for  demobilizing  the  men 
who  had  enlisted  for  the  duration  of  the  Civil  War.  Many  troops 
mutinied  against  being  kept  in  the  army  to  fight  the  Indians  in  the 
West.  Great  leaders  had  developed  among  the  Indians.  They  had 
little  trouble  holding  their  own  against  the  inferior  numbers  of  the 


2.  Ibid.,  pages  168-171. 


78  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

white  troops.  They  had  secured  vast  amounts  of  guns  and  ammu- 
nition from  their  attacks  on  the  wagon  trains,  stage  coaches  and 
stations  along  the  mail  routes.  Some  of  their  plunder  was  traded 
to  the  Mormons  in  Utah  for  guns  and  ammunition.  (The  Mor- 
mons were  attempting  to  found  a  government  of  their  own,  fight- 
ing the  United  States  Government.)  The  Indians  felt  that  they 
were  becoming  masters  of  the  situation  against  the  white  man. 

General  Connor,  who  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  soldiers 
fighting  against  the  Indians,  kept  warning  the  Government  against 
its  policy  of  appeasing  the  Indians,  and  also  warning  against  the 
Mormons  in  Utah.  He  claimed  that  Brigham  Young  had  more 
influence  with  the  Indians  than  the  entire  United  States  Govern- 
ment. (I  bring  in  this  sidelight  because  Robert  B.  David  of 
Casper  recently  mentioned  to  me  that  the  soldiers  here  at  Sweet- 
water Station  used  to  pan  gold  out  of  the  river  and  send  it  East  to 
their  families. )  That  was  one  of  the  interesting  policies  developed 
by  General  Connor.  He  encouraged  the  search  for  gold  along 
here,  in  the  hope  that  the  lure  of  gold  would  bring  into  the  country 
a  large  number  of  settlers  who  would  help  hold  the  Mormons  in 
check. 

Gold  seekers  did  flock  in.  The  Indians  ran  off  their  stock  time 
after  time  and  killed  and  scalped  the  miners  and  settlers,  freighters 
and  supply  parties.  Parlies  were  held  with  the  Indians,  treaties 
signed  and  broken.  Troops  were  withdrawn,  and  the  power  of 
the  Government  in  this  country  became  weaker  and  weaker.  In 
three  months  time,  over  5000  head  of  stock  were  run  off  and  over 
100  settlers  were  killed  by  the  Indians. 

The  Government  in  Washington,  and  the  people  in  the  East, 
were  sick  of  the  Civil  War  and  of  all  wars — especially  the  Indian 
wars  that  seemed  so  far  away.  Politics  and  politicians  entered  the 
picture.  The  cry  was  for  economy,  and,  as  usually  happens  after 
a  war,  the  economizing  was  on  the  army.  Platte  Bridge  Station, 
which  had  now  been  named  Fort  Casper,  in  honor  of  young  Caspar 
Collins,  was  ordered  abandoned,  and  the  telegraph  stations  were 
left  without  protection  of  troops — burned,  forgotten. 

Sweetwater  Station  and  this  western  country  had  again  become 
the  property  of  the  Indians,  who  remained  in  control  for  ten  long 
years,  and  then  discovered  that  they  had  killed  the  golden  goose. 
For  the  rental  was  no  longer  received  for  use  of  the  land  that  once 
held  the  telegraph  line;  the  rich  wagon  trains  and  freight  trains 
no  longer  came  over  the  Oregon  trail  to  be  pillaged  and  plundered; 
the  army,  with  its  herds  of  horses  to  be  stolen,  was  no  longer  in 
the  North — and  starvation  faced  the  Indians. 

At  Independence  Rock  (205  M.)>  Hazel  Noble  Boyack  related 
the  story  of  the  Proud  Shrine  of  Wonderful  Wyoming: 

Today  we  stand  at  one  of  the  great  natural  monuments  along 
the  route  of  the  combined  and  celebrated  Oregon-Mormon-Cali- 


OREGON  TRAIL  TREK  NO.   FOUR  79 

fornia  Trail,  and  the  best  authorities  in  historical  research  also 
agree  that  Independence  Rock  ranks  among  the  great  landmarks 
of  our  beloved  America. 

So  today  we  of  this  interested  party  of  Oregon  Trail  trekkers 
are  also  making  history.  As  our  caravan  of  modern  prairie 
schooners  labored  this  morning  over  the  rough  and  rugged  seg- 
ment of  the  Old  Trail  that  brought  us  to  this  historic  mound,  one 
gains  a  more  profound  reference  and  high  regard  for  the  caliber 
of  men  and  women  who  broke  this  historic  pathway  to  the  West. 
Francis  Parkman,  author  of  The  Oregon  Trail,  said,  "By  the 
strength  of  their  arms  and  the  valor  of  their  hearts  did  they  achieve 
this  task."    In  this  I  think  all  of  us  can  concur. 

Independence  Rock  fairly  vibrates  with  the  history  of  the  past. 
The  many  hundreds  of  names  inscribed  upon  its  granite  form 
bear  silent  testimony  of  a  mighty  migration  of  people  who  passed 
this  way.  We  ask  ourselves,  "How  came  this  famed  landmark  to 
bear  its  patriotic  name?"  To  answer  this  question  we  turn  back 
the  pages  of  history  to  the  early  eighteen  twenties.  On  the  out- 
skirts of  the  frontier  hamlet  of  St.  Louis,  Msisouri,  there  lived  a 
distinguished  gentleman  by  the  name  of  William  H.  Ashley.  In 
1822  he  organized  his  first  fur  brigade  known  as  the  Ashley- 
Henry  Expedition.  In  this  and  later  expeditions  were  men  who 
were  destined  to  write  their  names  on  the  geography  of  the  great 
West:  James  Bridger,  then  an  eighteen  year  old  youth;  Jedediah 
Strong  Smith,  perhaps  the  greatest  explorer  ever  to  come  West; 
Thomas  Fitzpatrick;  Etienne  Provot;  William  Sublette  and  many 
others  whose  names  are  well  known  in  the  annals  of  Western 
history. 

The  commonly  accepted  story  is  that  as  the  first  Ashley  trapping 
party  made  its  way  West,  it  camped  at  this  rock  on  our  nation's 
natal  day.  After  a  celebration,  befitting,  no  doubt,  the  freedom 
and  abandon  of  the  early  West,  the  rock  was  christened  "Indepen- 
dence Rock",  the  name  it  has  borne  for  more  than  a  century. 

Independence  Rock  marks  the  entrance  into  the  beautiful 
Sweetwater  valley.  The  famous  river  for  which  the  valley  is 
named  flows  placidly  near  the  southern  base  of  the  great  rock. 
The  Pioneer  caravans  drank  freely  from  this  sylvan  stream  because 
of  its  clear  and  sparkling  waters,  free  from  the  biting  alkalis  of  the 
desert  they  had  so  recently  traversed. 

Yes,  Independence  Rock  was  an  inviting  camp  spot.  Here,  as 
the  summer  sun  sank  to  rest  over  the  low  western  hills,  caravans 
of  weary  travelers  made  camp  by  its  sheltering  form.  As  the 
evening  campfires  were  lighted  and  the  simple  repast  over,  merry 
notes  from  the  fiddle  or  the  guitar  floated  out  on  the  warm  desert 
air,  and  soon  the  feet  of  happy  dancers  kept  rhythm  to  the  music. 

But  sadness  and  sorrow  also  entered  into  the  picture.  Loved 
ones,  for  whom  the  western  journey  had  been  too  great  a  struggle, 
were  laid  to  rest  here  by  the  rock,  the  journey  scarcely  half  over. 


80  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

These  many  events  caused  Independence  Rock  to  be  kept  in  vivid 
memory  by  the  Pioneers,  and  is  often  referred  to  in  their  diaries. 

In  1832  Captain  B.  L.  E.  Bonneville,  who  left  Fort  Osage  on 
the  Missouri  River  with  a  caravan  of  trappers,  noted  the  great 
rock  "in  shape  of  a  half  globe  of  imposing  appearance  rising  out 
of  a  lonely  landscape". 

Fremont,  "the  Pathfinder",  tells  of  his  profound  impressions  of 
the  Rock  and  that  he  left  a  symbol  of  the  Christian  faith,  the 
Cross,  engraven  upon  the  rock  one  thousand  miles  from  the 
Mississippi  River. 

To  Father  Pierre  Jean  De  Smet,  famous  Catholic  missionary  to 
the  Indian  tribes  of  the  West,  Independence  Rock  appeared  as  a 
great  "registry  of  the  desert".  To  other  it  was  referred  to  as  "The 
Emigrant's  Post  Office."  The  surface  of  the  rock  was  searched  for 
a  name  or  names  of  some  loved  ones  who  had  passed  along  the 
Trail. 

As  the  famous  Mormon  Vanguard  Company  of  1847  traveled 
westward,  two  of  their  Scouts,  Wilford  Woodruff  and  John  Brown, 
were  traveling  ahead  of  the  Company  and  were  the  first  to  arrive 
at  the  Ro^k.  Evening  was  coming  on  and  a  party  of  Missouri 
emigrants  camped  nearby  invited  them  to  spend  the  night.  This 
they  did.  The  next  day,  Mr.  Woodruff  records  in  his  diary,  they 
rode  around  the  Rock,  staked  their  horses  and  climbed  to  the  top. 
On  the  highest  point  they  offered  up  their  morning  prayers.  As 
this  scene  of  devotion  was  going  on,  the  company  of  Missourians 
were  burying  one  of  their  number,  Rachel  Morgan,  a  young  wo- 
man twenty-five  years  of  age,  the  third  member  of  her  family  to 
pass  away  on  the  hard  journey. 

Enroute  to  Oregon  in  1862  were  twenty  members  of  the  Ma- 
sonic Brotherhood.  The  company  paused  at  this  famous  camp 
site  and  held  a  historic  meeting  that  resulted  in  organizing  the  first 
Masonic  Lodge  in  this  part  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Of  the 
many  bronze  tablets  that  decorate  the  north  face  of  the  Rock,  one 
commemorates  this  event. 

Adding  a  touch  of  interest  and  lustre  to  the  immediate  area  sur- 
rounding Independence  Rock  was  the  Sweetwater  Station  erected 
some  two  miles  to  the  East.  This  outpost  first  served  as  a  Pony 
Express  and  Telegraph  Station.  In  the  mid  1860's  it  became  a 
garrison  where  soldiers  were  quartered  to  help  protect  emigrant 
trains  from  marauding  Indians. 

Coming  West  in  1 870  was  Dr.  Ferdinand  V.  Hayden,  a  founder 
of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey.  With  this  party  of 
scientific  explorers  came  Mr.  William  Jackson,  famous  artist  and 
photographer  of  those  early  years.  To  Mr.  Jackson  we  are 
indebted  for  the  first  pictures  of  Independence  Rock.  Dr.  Hayden 
not  only  climbed  the  rock  but  took  with  him  his  faithful  horse, 
perhaps  the  first  and  the  last  animal  to  climb  the  mound  and  to 
be  photographed  there. 


OREGO>J   TRAIL  TREK  NO.   FOUR  81 

As  the  years  passed  by  silence  again  returned  to  the  prairie 
stretches  surrounding  Independence  Rock.  The  grinding  wheels 
of  covered  wagons  were  no  longer  heard.  The  romantic  period 
of  travel  and  adventure  by  ox  teams  to  the  West  was  at  an  end. 
Instead,  iron  rails  had  spanned  the  distance  West  and  the  shrill 
whistle  of  the  Iron  Horse  broke  intermittently  the  stillness  of  the 
desert  regions. 

But  Independence  Rock  was  not  forgotten!  In  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  many  people  it  was  held  vividly  in  memory.  On  July 
3,  4,  and  5,  1930,  the  year  of  the  Covered  Wagon  Centennial,  the 
famous  landmark  was  chosen  as  a  fitting  site  for  a  national  cele- 
bration. Cooperating  in  this  event  was  the  Wyoming  Historical 
Landmark  Commission  and  the  officers  and  citizens  of  Natrona 
County  in  which  county  the  landmark  is  located. 

As  the  time  drew  near  for  the  celebration,  a  thousand  Boy 
Scouts  from  many  parts  of  America  were  present.  Indians  from 
the  Reservation  at  Lander  gave  a  realistic  touch  to  the  occasion. 
A  thin  line  of  Pioneers  honored  the  gathering  with  their  presence. 
Amid  song,  story  and  oratory,  the  Old  Rock  was  formally  dedi- 
cated as  a  national  monument  to  the  courage,  fidelity  and  faith 
of  our  Western  Pioneers. 

For  Christmas  in  1953,  Colonel  Boyack  and  I  featured  Inde- 
pendence Rock  on  our  Christmas  cards.  I  wrote  the  following 
lines  in  memory  of  the  great  landmark. 

Historic  old  Rock  Independence, 
Proud  shrine  of  Wyoming  land. 
In  the  heart  of  these  vast  western  prairies, 
A  memorial  in  granite  you  stand. 

By  a  broad  winding  emigrant  highway, 
Famed  path  to  the  early  West, 
You  stood  like  a  sentinal  courageous, 
In  view  of  the  grand  Rocky's  crest. 

As  the  shadows  of  evening  lengthened. 
Weary  emigrants  paused  on  their  way. 
And  by  the  light  of  their  flickering  campfires. 
Gave  thanks  to  their  God  for  the  day. 

Here  fond  lovers  were  joined  in  wedlock. 
As  they  trekked  on  the  long  journey  West, 
Here  courageous  and  brave  hearts  were  saddened. 
As  loved  ones  were  laid  to  rest. 

Deep  in  your  ice  polished  surface, 

Many  an  Emigrant  recorded  his  name. 

Which  made  you  the  "great  register  of  the  desert". 

With  added  lustre  and  romance  and  fame. 


82  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Storied  old  Rock  Independence, 

In  the  cycles  of  time  yet  to  be, 

May  our  faith  and  resolve  for  life's  journey, 

Be  firm  and  as  steadfast  as  thee. 

1 : 40  P.M.  We  proceeded  on  the  oiled  road  to  the  TOM  SUN 
RANCH  (212  M.),  crossing  the  old  road  several  times. 

The  Tom  Sun  Ranch,  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  country,  was 
begun  by  Thomas  de  Beau  Soli,  a  French  trapper,  whose  name 
has  been  Americanized  to  Tom  Sun.  In  1 872  he  built  a  one  room 
log  cabin  on  the  Sweetwater  River.  This  cabin  has  had  several 
additions  until  it  is  a  low,  attractive,  sprawling,  log  building  under 
beautiful  big  shade  trees.  The  latest  addition  is  a  museum  which 
houses  valuable  antiques  belonging  to  the  family  as  well  as  many 
Indian  artifacts  found  in  the  neighborhood. 

Mrs.  Sun  told  us  that  Tom  Sun,  Senior,  camped  on  this  spot 
with  hunting  parties  before  he  decided  to  settle  here.  By  the  time 
Mrs.  Sun  came  in  1883  he  had  added  all  the  rooms  except  the 
museum.  The  old  gate  was  built  in  1880  and  was  in  constant  use 
until  1952. 

The  graves  across  the  highway  were  there  when  Mrs.  Sun  came. 
She  could  count  forty  at  that  time. 

The  children  buried  at  the  Rock  (Independence)  died  from 
diphtheria  in  1898.  One  of  them  was  Ross  Merrill,  aged  four. 
He  was  the  son  of  the  stage  drvier  who  lived  at  the  Rock.  Another 
child  was  the  little  three-year-old  daughter  of  a  freighter  who  lived 
at  the  Soda  Works.    Her  name  was  McCorkle. 

2:15  P.M.  Departed  from  the  Sun  ranch  and  drove  back  to 
the  Goose  Egg  Service  Station.  From  there  we  traveled  dirt  roads 
to  the  historic  GOOSE  EGG  RANCH. 

Although  nothing  is  left  of  the  Goose  Egg  ranch  building 
Virginia  Trenholm  recreated  the  lively  times  once  enjoyed  there. 

In  our  trek  along  the  Oregon  Trail,  we  have  dealt  exclusively 
with  fact.  True  it  is,  there  is  untold  history  at  or  near  the  Goose 
Egg  Ranch.  Mr.  Bishop  tells  us  the  old  government  maps  show 
a  crossing  of  the  river  just  above  here.  But  the  old  stone  house 
which  stood  many  years  has  been  toppled  over,  and  there  is  little 
left  to  mark  the  location. 

The  story  of  the  Goose  Egg  is  more  fictitious  than  real,  though 
it  is  historical  none-the-less.  It  has  its  setting  near  the  famous 
trail  followed  by  the  Oregon  settlers,  the  Mormon  pioneers  and 
the  California  gold  seekers.  By  the  time  the  Goose  Egg  was  at 
the  height  of  its  glory,  however,  the  Union  Pacific  had  become  a 
reality,  and  the  historic  trail  was  little  more  than  a  local  stage  and 
freighting  road  and  a  path  over  which  the  vast  trail  herds  were 
driven  eastward  from  Oregon. 


J 


OREGON  TRAIL  TREK  NO.   FOUR  83 

Fortunately,  we  have  the  early  record  of  this  ranch  preserved 
for  us  by  W.  P.  Ricketts,  of  Gillette,  in  a  letter  to  Bob  Irvine, 
Douglas,  in  1937.    I  shall  quote  the  letter  in  part. 

"On  my  arrival  [in  Cheyenne],  I  found  many  cattle  owners  and 
their  foremen  in  the  lobby  of  the  Inter-Ocean  Hotel,  talking  cattle 
and  roundups.  This  was  in  the  spring  of  1876.  Roundups  would 
soon  begin,  and  I  was  not  long  in  finding  a  place  to  work  for 
Searight  Brothers,  who  owned  a  ranch  on  Chug  water,  50  miles 
north  of  Cheyenne.  .  .  . 

"I  was  employed  on  this  ranch  during  '76,  '77,  and  until  May 
'78,  when  Searight  Bros,  sold  their  cattle  to  the  Swan  Land  & 
Cattle  Co.  This  was  just  after  the  blizzard  of  March  '78.  Alex 
Swan  bought  them  on  book  account  and  later  on  had  some  regrets. 

"From  June  1,  '78,  I  worked  for  your  father,  Billy  Irvine,  on  his 
Y  ranch  near  Bridgers  Ferry  at  mouth  of  Shaw-Nee  Creek.  On 
March  1,  '79,  Searight  Bros,  employed  32  men  to  go  to  Oregon 
to  drive  seven  trail  herds  of  cattle  back  to  the  Goose  Egg  Ranch 
near  Casper.  I  was  one  of  those  men  who  experienced  the  thrills 
of  this  long  trip. 

"Searight  Bros,  had  planned  to  establish  a  ranch  at  the  mouth 
of  Poison  Spider  Creek  and  range  their  cattle  on  the  Casper  and 
Salt  Creeks  and  other  tributaries  of  the  North  Platte  River.  To 
carry  out  their  plans  during  the  summer  of  '79,  they  built  a  bunk- 
house,  storage  house,  kitchen  and  barn  on  the  first  bench  of  the 
Poison  Spider  Creek,  right  near  its  mouth.  These  log  buildings 
were  all  still  standing  two  years  ago  when  I  saw  them  last.  When 
I  first  saw  them  in  the  summer  of  1880,  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Blue  Hall  was  in  charge  of  the  ranch  known  as  the  Goose  Egg. 
The  spring  of  '80  was  the  real  beginning  of  the  range  work  of  the 
Goose  Egg  outfit  on  the  North  Platte  River. 

"In  1881,  I  succeeded  Blue  Hall  as  foreman  of  this  outfit.  It 
seemed  to  me  things  were  moving  along  smoothly,  and  we  had 
shipped  thousands  of  the  big  Oregon  steers  that  sold  well  con- 
sidering the  market  and  what  we  had  paid  for  them  in  Oregon. 
The  Searights  had  made  money,  built  nice  homes  in  Cheyenne. 
Prosperity  seems  to  cause  some  individuals  to  allow  their  ambition 
to  run  away  with  their  good  judgement.  This  to  me  was  verified 
when  the  owners  of  the  Goose  Egg  outfit  conceived  the  idea  of  em- 
ploying a  range  manager,  drawing  a  big  salary.  Not  only  that,  but 
they  built  and  furnished  him  a  big  stone  house.  In  those  days  a 
range  manager  was  called  a  "buggy-boss".  Jim  Lane  was  the 
fortunate  one. 

"I  was  advised  of  this  move  in  the  late  fall  of  '81,  when  G.  A. 
Searight  wrote  me  as  follows:  T  am  loading  some  freight  teams  in 
Cheyenne  with  material  for  building  a  home  for  Jim  Lane  and 
wife,  who  will  occupy  same  or  be  our  range  manager.  With  this 
outfit  will  come  a  carpenter,  two  stone  masons,  and  you  start 
some  teams  hauling  rock.' 


84  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

"I  had  plowed  corn,  milked  cows,  punched  cows  on  the  range 
and  over  the  Oregon  Trail,  but  to  think  of  superintending  the 
building  of  a  two  story  rock  building  out  on  the  rim  of  civilization 
was  just  going  too  far!  When  I  called  all  cow  hands  into  the  log 
bunkhouse  and  told  them  the  latest  orders,  consternation  and  dis- 
may befell  them.  They  thought  of  bruised  fingers  and  toes  ii  cold 
weather  handling  and  quarrying  the  rock  and  hauling  it  for  miles 
to  the  site  of  the  house.  All  of  this  brought  forth  much  profane 
language.  This  proved  to  be  a  winter  of  much  discomfort  and 
discontent  for  the  cowboys.  Excavation  of  the  basement  and  rock 
hauling  done,  the  stone  masons  and  carpenters  did  their  part.  By 
spring  this  widely  known  structure,  the  Goose  Egg  Ranch  home, 
was  completed  and  ready  for  occupancy.  The  "buggy-boss"  and 
wife  arrived  from  Cheyenne  in  a  shiny,  brand  new  buggy  drawn 
by  a  well  groomed  team  with  shiny  new  harness. 

"Jim  Lane  was  a  likeable  fellow  and  fit  into  the  position  quite 
well.  I  continued  on  as  range  foreman  running  a  wagon  and  over- 
seeing all  range  work  until  '85,  when  Searight  sold  out  to  J.  M. 
Carey  to  whom  I  tallied  the  cattle. 

"In  recent  years,  1  have  seen  pictures  of  the  Goose  Egg  ranch 
home,  the  walls  and  roof  still  standing,  but  unless  they  are  pro- 
tected from  stock  entering  the  house  and  rubbing  the  walls,  in  a 
short  time  there  will  be  little  left  as  a  reminder  of  this  notable 
cattle  ranch  operated  in  the  80's  when  the  north  Platte  River  and 
its  tributaries  were  used  as  an  open  range  for  some  of  the  largest 
herds  in  the  State  of  Wyoming." 

Mr.  Rickett's  prophecy  was  correct.  Today  there  is  little  in  a 
material  way  to  remind  us  of  the  part  the  old  Goose  Egg  played 
in  the  glamorous  cattle  period.  But  its  spirit  will  live  as  long  as 
there  is  a  yen  for  western  literature,  for  it  has  been  immortalized 
by  the  fluid  pen  of  Owen  Wister  in  The  Virginian. 

Wister  was  a  close  friend  of  Dr.  Barber,  early  day  physician  at 
Fort  Fetterman  and  later  acting  Governor  of  Wyoming.  The  Dr. 
Baker  at  Drybone,  in  The  Virginian,  is  no  doubt  a  counterpart  of 
Dr.  Barber,  who  furnished  many  ideas  for  the  story.  While  The 
Virginian  is  supposed  to  be  a  work  of  fiction,  the  author  shows 
plainly  the  influence  of  Barber,  who  befriended  the  prominent 
stock  growers  in  their  difficulties  with  the  so-called  rustlers. 

After  hearing  Mr.  Ricketts'  account  of  the  handsome  rock  ranch 
home  on  the  "Rim  of  civilization"  we  are  not  surprised  that  it 
intrigued  Owen  Wister.  Whether  or  not  the  barbecue,  about 
which  he  writes,  ever  took  place  is  a  matter  of  conjecture.  At  any 
rate,  he  gives  the  reader  a  glimpse  of  the  social  life  which  undoubt- 
edly did  take  place  here.    We  quote  from  The  Virginian. 

"Inside  the  Goose  Egg  kitchen  many  small  delicacies  were  pre- 
paring, and  a  steer  was  roasting  whole  outside.  The  bed  of  flame 
under  it  showed  steadily  brighter  against  the  dusk  that  was  begin- 
ning to  veil  the  lowlands.     The  busy  hosts  went  and  came,  while 


OREGON   TRAIL  TREK   NO.   FOUR  85 

men  stood  and  men  lay  near  the  fire  glow.  Chalkeye  was  there, 
and  Nebrasky,  and  Trampas  and  Honey  Wiggin,  with  others, 
enjoying  the  occasion,  ..." 

As  to  the  authenticity  of  the  Virginian,  we  will  let  Wister 
answer.    This  is  his  comment  in  1902: 

"Sometimes  readers  inquire,  Did  I  know  the  Virginian?  as  well, 
I  hope,  as  a  father  should  know  his  son.  And  sometimes  it  is 
asked.  Was  such  and  such  true?  Now  to  this  I  have  the  best 
answer  in  the  world.  Once  a  cowpuncher  listened  patiently  while 
I  read  him  a  manuscript.  It  concerned  an  event  upon  an  Indian 
reservation.  "Was  that  the  Crow  reservation?"  he  inquired  at 
the  finish.  I  told  him  that  it  was  no  real  reservation  and  no  real 
event;  and  his  fcae  showed  his  displeasure.  "Why,"  he  demanded, 
"do  you  waste  your  time  writing  what  never  happened,  when  you 
know  so  many  things  that  did  happen?" 

So  the  Virginian  may  have  been  a  mythical  or  composite  char- 
acter, a  creature  of  imagination  or  mental  off-spring.  Whoever 
he  was,  his  story  of  the  switching  of  the  babies  at  the  Goose  Egg 
Ranch  did  more  to  preserve  the  romance  of  the  old  cattle  ranch 
than  the  stone  walls  could  ever  have  done. 

We  then  followed  the  river  route  to  the  divide  northwest  of  Fort 
Casper,  where  the  Chaplain  gave  a  final  prayer.  After  seeing 
everyone  on  the  Poison  Spider  Road  the  caravan  disbanded. 


Washakie  and  Zhe  Shoshom 

A  Selection  of  Documents  from  the  Records  of  the  Utah 
Superintendency  of  Indian  Affairs 

Edited  by 

Dale  L.  Morgan 

PART  VIII— 1863-186 

XCI 

James  Duane  Doty,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  William  P. 

Dole,  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  Telegram  dated 

Salt  Lake,  July  6,  1863.'"' 

Your  letter  dated  June  6th  is  received  on  my  return  from  Bridger 
Gov  [James  W.]  Nye  is  not  here  nor  heard  from.  Pokatelle  sends 
word  that  he  wishes  to  treat  for  peace  Sanritz  [Sanpits]  &  Sagoity 
[Sagowits]  have  fled  north  of  Snake  River.  The  Utahs  also  wish 
to  treat    1  wait  your  instructions 

XCII 

James  Duane  Doty,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  William  P. 

Dole,  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt 

Lake  City,  July  18,  1863."'^ 

Sir. 

Herewith  I  transmit  the  original  copy  of  the  Treaty  concluded 
at  Fort  Bridger  on  the  2nd.  inst.  by  Agent  Mann  &  myself  with 
the  Shoshonees — a  duplicate  of  which  was  forwarded  from  that 
place  on  the  3d  inst. 

The  Commissioner  will  please  to  add  to  that  copy  the  name  of 
the  Chief  Bazil  who  signed  his  name  to  this  but  did  not  arrive 
with  his  Band  until  that  copy  had  been  mailed. 

I  have  just  received  word  from  Pokatello  that  he  wishes  to 
meet  me  in  his  country  north  of  Bear  River  to  make  peace.  With 
Genl.  [Patrick  Edward]  Connor  I  shall  meet  him  as  soon  as  the 
place  can  be  designated.  .  .  . 


191.  D/147-1863. 

192.  D/ 174- 1863.  Endorsed:  "Treaty  Sent  to  Sec.  of  Intr.  for  transmis- 
sion to  the  President  to  be  laid  before  the  Senate  for  its  action  thereon. 
Dec.  30.  1863." 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI  87 

XCIII 

James  Duane  Doty,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  William  P. 

Dole,  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt 

Lake  City,  July  18,  1863/"' 

Sir:  On  the  7th  of  this  month  Genl.  Connor  and  myself  made 
a  Treaty  of  Peace  with  "Little  Soldier"  and  his  Band  of  "Weber 
Utes,"  who  have  assembled  at  a  point  in  the  vicinity  of  this  City 
indicated  by  us  for  their  Camp,  about  twenty  miles  distant.  We 
found  with  him  individuals  of  several  other  Bands,  who  attended 
our  meeting  to  ascertain,  it  is  presumed,  if  we  were  sincere  in 
accepting  Little  Soldiers  proposals  for  peace,  and  if  so,  to  let  us 
know  that  the  disposition  of  other  Bands  was  favorable  to  peace. 
All  who  were  present  participated  in  the  presents  of  provisions 
and  goods  which  I  made  to  Little  Soldier  and  which  were  distrib- 
uted by  him;  and  promised  to  cease  all  further  depredations  and 
faithfully  to  maintain  peace  and  friendship  with  all  white  men. 

The  other  Bands  of  Utahs,  to  whom  messengers  had  been  sent, 
proposed  to  meet  us  at  Spanish  Fork,  at  an  early  day  to  be 
appointed,  for  the  purpose  of  making  peace.  The  14th.  instant 
being  the  time  selected  by  Genl.  Connor,  we  met  there  on  that 
day,  all  of  the  principal  men  of  those  Bands,  excepting  two  who 
sent  word  by  others  that  they  would  abide  by  whatever  terms  were 
agreed  upon. 

It  was  agreed  that  hostilities  should  cease  immediately;  that  the 
past  should  be  forgotten;  that  the  Utahs  should  give  up  any  stolen 
horses  in  their  possession;  that  no  further  depredations  should  be 
committed  by  them;  that  they  would  remain  peaceable  and  quiet 
in  future;  and  if  any  of  their  people  should  hereafter  murder  white 
men,  or  steal  their  horses,  they  would  make  every  exertion  to  arrest 
the  offenders  and  deliver  them  up  for  punishment. 

We  promised  them  liberal  presents  of  provisions  and  clothing, 
and  that  these  presents  would  be  continued  to  them  by  the  gov- 
ernment as  long  as  they  kept  their  word — but  no  longer.  We 
assured  them  that  if  any  act  of  aggression  upon  the  whites  was 
committed  by  them,  the  soldiers  would  immediately  enter  their 
country  and  pursue  the  culprits  until  redress  was  obtained — to 
which  they  assented.  We  also  assured  them  that  if  any  injury 
was  done  to  them  by  white  men,  the  offenders  should  be  punished, 
if  they  made  complaint  and  gave  the  proper  information  to  Genl. 
Connor,  or  to  the  Superintendent. 

They  appeared  to  be  very  anxious  for  peace,  and  to  have  their 
friendly  relations  with  the  government  restored;  and  I  feel  confi- 
dent the  troubles  with  the  Utah  nation  (in  this  Territory)  are  now 


193.  D/173-1863.     Printed  in:  38th  Congress,  1st  Session,  House  Exec- 
utive Document  1  (Serial  1182),  pp.  513-514. 


88  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

terminated.  The  large  presents  which  I  have  made  this  Spring, 
and  on  this  occasion,  have  undoubtedly  contributed  to  this  result; 
but  I  think  the  government  is  mainly  indebted  for  it  to  the  able 
Commanding  officer  of  this  military  Department,  Genl.  Connor, 
and  the  efficiency  and  bravery  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  under 
his  command. 

These  Treaties  were  made  orally,  and  not  reduced  to  writing, 
being  without  instructions  from  the  Department;  and  our  only 
purpose  being  to  obtain  peace  with  these  Indians,  and  to  stop 
further  hostilities  on  their  part — for  the  present  at  least. 

They  appeared  to  be  very  thankful  for  the  food  and  clothing 
which  I  gave  them;  and  I  promised  them,  when  the  goods  arrived 
which  are  now  on  their  way,  further  presents  would  be  made  them 
— if  they  remained  good.  This  I  consider  the  best  application 
of  the  Funds  under  my  control  for  the  general  service,  which 
could  be  made,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Indians,  the  security  of 
Emigrants  and  of  the  Telegraph  &  Overland  mail  Lines,  and  the 
interests  of  the  government.  When  they  are  assembled  again  to 
receive  presents  of  provisions  &  goods,  I  think  a  Treaty  may  be 
effected  with  them  upon  such  terms  as  the  Department  may  desire. 

I  can  but  repeat  the  recommendation  which  1  have  heretofore 
made,  that  the  Utah  Bands  ought  to  be  collected  on  the  Uintah 
Reservation,  and  provision  made  for  them  as  herdsmen.  Genl. 
Connor  informs  me  that  some  of  the  Troops  under  his  command 
can  be  employed  (peace  being  now  established  with  the  Sho- 
shonees)  in  settling  and  protecting  them  there,  and  in  aiding  them 
in  erecting  their  houses  and  making  other  improvements  for  per- 
manent homes.  In  this  manner  government  may  soon  obtain 
perfect  control  over  this  nation,  and  with  a  less  expenditure  of 
money  than  is  now  required  to  maintain  the  very  unsatisfactory 
and  imperfect  relations  existing  at  present.  .  .  .'"'* 


194.  In  a  parallel  letter  to  Lieut.  Col.  R.  C.  Drum,  Asst.  Adjutant- 
General.  San  Francisco,  dated  Great  Salt  Lake  City,  July  18,  1863,  General 
Connor  described  these  same  events.  The  meeting  with  Little  Soldier 
Connor  placed  in  "the  valley  of  the  West  Mountain,  about  twenty-five 
miles  west  of  this  city,"  i.e.,  Tooele  Valley.  The  Utes  who  conferred  with 
him  and  Doty  at  Spanish  Fork  on  July  14  included  the  chiefs  "Antero, 
Tabby.  Canosh,  Ute-Pete,  Au-ke-wah-kus,  and  Black  Hawk,"  San  Pitch 
being  the  only  principal  Ute  chief  not  present.  (Note  that  there  were  two 
chiefs  by  this  name,  one  Shoshoni,  one  Ute,  a  circumstance  which  has 
sometimes  baffled  historians.)  The  consequence  of  the  recent  Shoshoni 
treaty-making,  Connor  added,  was: 

The  several  bands  have  been  once  more  united  under  the  chieftainship 
of  the  peaceful  Wa-sha-kee,  and  are  living  in  quiet  contentment  near 
Bridger,  under  the  charge  and  guardianship  of  the  Indian  Department. 
Since  the  date  of  the  Snake  treaty  I  have  received  a  message  from 
Pocatello,  the  celebrated  Snake  chief,  begging  for  peace  and  asking 
for  a  conference.  He  says  he  is  tired  of  war,  and  has  been  effectually 
driven  from  the  Territory  with  a  small  remnant  of  his  once  powerful 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI  89 

XCIV 

James  Duane  Doty,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  William  P. 

Dole,  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt 

Lake  City,  August  30,  1863/'' 

Sir, 

Acknowledging  your  Letter  dated  July  22"^,  I  have  to  request 
that  two  or  more  copies  of  the  Map  lately  prepared  at  the  General 
Land  Office  may  be  procured  and  sent  to  me,  that  I  may  be 
enabled  to  show  the  boundaries  of  the  Country  ceded  by  the 
Shoshonees- 

The  most  accurate  map  which  I  have  of  this  Country  is  the 
Military  Map  of  Utah;  but  this  does  not  exhibit  the  northern  part 
of  the  Shoshonee  Countrv —  .  .  . 


band.  He  now  sues  for  peace,  and  having  responded  favorably  to 
his  request  I  will  meet  him  at  an  early  day,  and  will  conclude  with 
him  what  I  have  no  doubt  will  be  a  lasting  peace.  Thus  at  least  I 
have  the  pleasure  to  report  peace  with  the  Indian  on  all  hands,  save 
only  a  few  hostile  Goshutes  west  and  north  of  Deep  Creek.  ...  I  may 
therefore  confidently  report  the  end  of  Indian  difficulties  on  the 
Overland  Stage  Line  and  within  this  district,  from  the  Snake  River,  on 
the  north,  to  Arizona,  on  the  south,  and  from  Green  River  to  Carson 
Valley  ....  (U.  S.  War  Department,  Official  Records  of  the  War  of 
the  Rebellion  [Washington,  1897],  Series  I,  Volume  L,  Part  II,  pp. 
527-531.) 

Another  echo  of  these  times  and  events  is  found  in  the  narrative  of 
William  Elkanah  Waters,  an  army  surgeon  who  traveled  out  to  Utah  in  the 
spring  of  1866.  In  his  anonymously-published  Life  Among  the  Mormons, 
and  a  March  to  Their  Zion,  New  York,  1868,  pp.  204-205,  Waters  writes: 
The  Shoshone  (or  Snake)  tribe  have  their  favorite  hunting-ground  in 
the  Wind  River  Valley,  and  travel  south  and  west  during  the  summer 
months.  These  two  tribes  [Utes  and  Shoshoni]  are  now  at  peace 
with  the  white  man,  and  receive  their  annual  presents  from  the  Gov- 
ernment. Only  three  years  ago  [i.e.,  from  1866]  the  Snakes  were  at 
war  with  the  troops  stationed  in  Utah,  but  after  a  severe  battle  on 
Bear  River,  in  which  they  were  severely  punished,  and  sustained  a 
great  loss,  they  in  the  dead  of  winter,  and  in  an  almost  starving  con- 
dition, begged  for  peace,  and  for  subsistence.  When  they  arrayed 
themselves  against  the  white  men  in  the  territory,  it  was  in  opposition 
to  the  advice  of  their  chief  Washiki,  who  is  the  finest  specimen  of  an 
Indian  I  ever  saw.  He  abandoned  the  leadership  of  the  tribe,  rather 
than  indulge  in  a  war  which  he  knew  must  prove  disastrous  to  the 
red  man.  For  their  folly  they  elected  another  chief,  and  paid  for  it 
in  the  disaster  to  which  I  alluded.  During  the  war,  Washiki,  with  his 
squaws  and  a  small  party,  camped  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Bridger,  and 
after  its  termination  the  tribe  were  only  too  glad  to  reinstate  him  in 
his  former  official  position. 

These  various  accounts  considerably  elaborate  Grace  Raymond  Hebard's 
discussion  of  this  critical  era  in  her  Washakie,  pp.  106-109. 

195.  D/203-1863.     The  requested   maps   were   forwarded   from   Wash- 
ington on  Sept.  22. 


90  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

xcv 

Luther  Mann,  Jr.,  Indian  Agent,  to  James  Duane   Doty, 

SuPT.  OF  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Fort  Bridger, 

Sept.  21,  1863."" 

Sir  please  find  Enclosed  Receipts  for  goods  Sent  me  for  distri- 
bution to  Indians  You  will  please  inform  me  whether  they  are 
to  be  distributed  for  Treaty  purposes  by  you  as  disbursing  agent  of 
said  commission  or  whether  I  shall  place  them  on  Property  return 
as  received  by  you  and  disbursed  by  myself  as  Indian  Agent 
I  have  purchased  Beef  to  feed  the  Indians  agreeable  to  your  Tele- 
graph and  have  Paid  for  part  of  it  out  of  my  own  money  will  it 
be  charged  to  Treaty  fund  and  paid  by  you  as  disbursing  agent  of 
said  commission  please  inform  me  fully  in  the  matter  and  greatly 
Oblige.  .  .  . 

[Endorsed:]  Answered  "property  to  go  in  to  his  own  accts  as 
"agent" 

XCVI 

James  Duane   Doty,   Commissioner,   to  William   P.   Dole, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt  Lake 

City,  October  21,  1863."' 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  a  treaty  with  the 
Shoshonee  bands  of  the  Goship  tribe,  which  was  concluded  at 
Tuilla  [Tooele]  valley  on  the  12th  October.  I  had  previously 
made  a  verbal  treaty  of  peace  (on  the  5th  October)  with  the 
remaining  portion  of  the  southern  bands  who  are  connected  with 
the  Pahvont  tribe.  They  gave  their  assent  to  all  the  provisions 
contained  in  this  treaty.  The  largest  portion  of  these  bands  have 
been  killed  by  the  troops  during  the  past  season.  Also  a  treaty 
of  peace  and  friendship  with  the  mixed  bands  of  Shoshonees  and 
Bannacks  of  the  Shoshonee  (or  Snake)  River  valley,  concluded  at 
Soda  Springs,  in  Idaho  Territory,  on  the  14th  of  October."'  In  the 
month  of  September  I  advised  Governor  [Lew]  Wallace,  by  letter, 
of  the  proposed  treaty,  and  of  the  time  and  place  of  holding  it, 
and,  agreeably  to  your  suggestion,  invited  him  to  be  present,  but 
received  no  answer.     I  presume  my  letter  did  not  reach  him. 

As  many  of  these  Indians,  as  also  others  with  whom  treaties 
have  been  made  this  season,  have  been  engaged  in  hostilities,  I 
deemed  it  proper  that  General  Conner  [Connor],  who  commands 
this  military  district,  and  has  been  personally  in  the  field  against 


196.  Utah  Field  Papers,  1863. 

197.  38th  Congress,  2nd  Session,  House  Executive  Document  1   (Serial 
1220),  pp.  317-318. 

198.  This  particular  treaty  was  never  perfected.     A  copy  of  it  is   in 
Unratified  Treaties  File,  1/463-1863. 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI  91 

them,  should  unite  with  me  in  the  councils  which  have  been  held 
with  them,  and  in  forming  the  treaties  of  peace.  He  has  rendered 
great  service  to  the  government  in  punishing  and  subduing  them. 
By  the  rapid  and  skilful  movement  of  his  troops,  and  their  repeated 
successful  attacks,  he  has  been  mainly  instrumental  in  bringing 
the  Indians  to  acknowledge,  for  the  first  time,  that  the  "Ameri- 
cans" are  the  masters  of  the  country. 

I  hope  these  treaties,  and  the  councils  which  have  been  held 
with  the  tribes  with  which  I  was  not  authorized  to  make  formal 
treaties,  will  receive  the  approbation  of  the  President. 

My  duties  as  commissioner  being  now  terminated  by  the  con- 
clusion of  treaties  with  all  the  bands  of  the  Shoshonee  nation,  my 
accounts  for  treaty  expenditures  will  be  prepared  and  forwarded 
as  soon  as  possible. 

Allow  me  to  congratulate  the  department  upon  the  successful 
negotiation  of  these  treaties,  and  the  restoration  of  peace  with  all 
the  tribes  within  this  Territory.  ... 

XCVII 

James  Duane  Doty,  Commissioner  and  Brig.  Gen.  P.  Edward 

Connor  to  A.  J.  Center,  Treasurer,  Overland  Mail 

Company,  New  York,  dated  Great  Salt  Lake  City, 

October  21,  1863."*' 

Sir:  Treaties  having  been  concluded  with  all  the  hostile  tribes 
of  Indians  in  this  country,  and  peace  restored,  we  deem  it  proper 
to  inform  you  of  the  fact,  and  to  express  the  opinion  that  all  the 
routes  of  travel  through  Utah  Territory  to  Nevada  and  California, 
and  to  the  Beaver  Head  and  Boise  river  gold  mines,  may  now  be 
used  with  safety. 

No  fears  of  depredations  or  molestation  need  be  apprehended 
from  the  Shoshonee,  Utah,  Goship,  or  Bannack  nations,  judging 
from  the  feelings  manifested  by  them,  and  their  strong  professions 
of  friendship  and  desire  for  peace  at  the  signing  of  the  treaties, 
the  last  of  which  was  made  with  the  Bannacks  of  the  Shoshonee 
River  valley,  at  Soda  Springs,  on  the  14th  instant.  .  .  . 

XCVIII 

James  Duane  Doty,  Acting  Supt.  of   Indian  Affairs,   to 

William  P.  Dole,  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated 

Great  Salt  Lake  City,  October  24,  1863.'™ 

Sir:     In  compliance  with  the  regulations  of  the  Indian  depart- 


199.  38th  Congress,  2nd  Session,  House  Executive  Document  1   (Serial 
1220),  p.  317. 

200.  38th  Congress,   1st  Session,  House  Executive  Document  1    (Serial 
1182),  pp.  539-540. 


92  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

ment,  I  have  the  honor  to  present  the  following  annual  report  for 
the  year  1863.  Its  earlier  transmission  was  impracticable,  having 
been  engaged  in  the  performance  of  my  duties  as  commissioner  to 
treat  with  the  Shoshonees  until  this  date. 

I  beg  leave  to  refer  to  the  annual  estimate  for  this  superinten- 
dency  which  was  submitted  last  year  as  proper  for  the  coming  year, 
and  also  to  respectfully  recommend  that  the  goods  for  presents, 
farming  implements,  &c.,  be  purchased  in  New  York  and  shipped 
as  early  as  practicable  in  the  spring,  as  it  is  difficult  to  obtain 
them  in  this  city,  and  only  at  extravagant  prices. 

Several  of  the  Utah  bands  are  both  willing  and  desirous  to 
become  settled,  as  herdsmen  or  husbandmen,  on  the  Uinta  reser- 
vation. It  is  now  unoccupied,  except  for  hunting  during  the 
winter.  It  would  be  advantageous  to  the  government  to  comply 
with  their  wishes,  and  it  is  again  suggested  that  treaties  be  made 
with  them  for  their  removal  and  location  there.  They  would  then 
be  withdrawn  from  the  present  routes  of  travel  though  this  Ter- 
ritory, and  peace  insured  hereafter  with  a  people  strongly  inclined 
to  agrciultural  pursuits,  but  who  have,  from  unknown  causes,  at 
several  times  this  season,  attacked  the  stages  and  killed  the  drivers. 

Their  friendship  cannot  be  relied  upon  whilst  they  are  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  white  settlements;  and  for  this  as  well 
other  reasons  it  is  believed  that  all  expenditures  upon  the  farm 
at  Spanish  Fork  are  a  waste  of  public  money;  that  the  farm  ought 
to  be  abandoned,  and  the  agency  removed  to  Uinta  valley,  where 
all  improvements  made  would  have  a  permanent  value.  The 
inhabitants  at  Spanish  Fork,  as  also  in  other  quarters,  for  their  own 
security  against  depredations,  seek  to  maintain  friendly  relations 
with  the  Indians,  as  in  previous  years  the  government  has  not 
been  able  to  give  them  adequate  protection.""' 

During  the  year  1862  and  the  winter  months  of  this  year  many 
of  the  Indians  in  this  superintendency  manifested  decided  evi- 
dences of  hostility  toward  the  whites.  The  numerous  murders 
and  depredations  upon  property  whcih  they  committed,  as  also 
their  language,  indicated  a  determination  to  stop  all  travel  upon 
the  overland  routes  and  upon  the  roads  leading  to  the  gold  mines 
in  Idaho  Territory.  It  became  unsafe  even  for  the  Mormon 
settlers  to  go  into  the  canyons  for  wood;  and  the  Bannack  prophet 
said  the  Indians  would  combine  and  drive  the  white  men  from  the 
country.    This  was  his  advice  to  the  Shoshonee  bands.'"" 


201.  Many  small  reservations  for  Utes  and  Paiutes  had  come  into  being 
in  the  1850's.  In  October,  1861,  as  we  have  seen,  President  Lincoln  set 
aside  the  Uinta  Basin  as  a  reservation  on  which  the  Utes  might  be  gathered, 
and  the  smaller  reservations  were  in  course  of  being  liquidated.  The  Utah 
Legislature  in  January,  1864,  memorialized  Congress  to  have  the  Spanish 
Fork  Reservation  disposed  of,  and  this  was  done  by  legislation  passed  the 
same  year. 

202.  See  Doty's  prior  letter  of  August  5,  1862,  Document  LXVL 


WASHAKIE   AND   THE   SHOSHONI  93 

The  battle  with  the  Shoshonees  on  the  bank  of  Bear  river  in 
January,  and  the  subsequent  engagements  with  the  Utahs  on  Span- 
ish Fork,  and  with  the  Goaships  in  their  country,""  effectually 
checked  them,  and  severely  and  justly  punished  them  for  the 
wanton  acts  of  cruelty  which  they  had  committed.  The  fight  on 
Bear  river  was  the  severest  and  most  bloody  of  any  which  has 
ever  occurred  with  the  Indians  west  of  the  Mississippi.  One  band 
that  of  Sanpitz)  was  almost  exterminated.  It  struck  terror  into 
the  hearts  of  the  savages  hundreds  of  miles  away  from  the  battle- 
field. 

As  soon  as  it  was  ascertained  that  any  of  the  bands  were  inclined 
to  peace  they  were  met  by  General  Connor  and  myself  at  places 
selected  in  their  own  country,  and  treaties  of  peace  and  friendship 
entered  into  with  them — a  service  which,  in  some  instances,  was 
regarded  as  both  difficult  and  hazardous.  These  negotiations  have 
been  communicated  to  the  department  from  time  to  time  as  they 
occurred,  as  also  other  treaties  formed  by  Governor  Nye,  Agent 
Mann,  and  myself,  with  the  eastern  and  western  bands  of  Sho- 
shonees. These  treaties  could  not  have  been  made  without  the 
aid  of  the  appropriations  made  by  Congress  for  this  superinten- 
dency,  which  have  been  wholly  applied  to  the  great  object  of 
restoring  peace;  and  also  to  the  presence  of  the  military,  who  have 
rendered  distinguished  and  lasting  service  to  the  government  in 
subduing  the  Indians  throughout  this  Territory. 

It  appears  now  as  though  peace  was  again  permanently  estab- 
lished with  all  of  the  tribes  in  this  country,  and  that  no  danger 
from  them  is  to  be  apprehended  by  emigrants  moving  in  trains 
or  singly,  nor  of  an  interruption  in  future  to  the  overland  stage 
or  telegraph  lines.  They  now  acknowledge  the  Americans  are 
the  masters  of  this  country.  But  peace  can  only  be  secured  by 
regular,  liberal,  but  just  appropriations,  and  by  the  continuance 
of  a  strong  military  force  upon  the  main  routes  of  travel  through 
this  city,  and  especially  on  the  routes  north  of  it. 

It  was  only  by  the  judicious  application  of  the  appropriations 
made  by  Congress  at  its  last  session  for  the  Indians  in  Utah  that 
this  department  has  been  so  successful  in  restoring  peace,  not  only 
throughout  this  Territory,  but  in  the  southern  part  of  Idaho  also. 
It  is  believed  that  Congress  will  not  be  called  upon  for  like  appro- 
priations again  if  the  treaties  are  ratified  and  the  goods  required 
for  the  annuities  are  purchased  and  forwarded  from  the  Missouri 
river  early  in  the  spring.  It  must  be  observed  that  it  will  take 
about  three  months'  time  to  transport  them  to  the  places  where 


203.  These  troubles  between  March  and  June,  1863,  are  reported  in 
U.  S.  War  Department,  Official  Records  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion 
(Washington,  1897),  Series  I,  Vol.  L,  Part  K,  pp.  200-208,  229.  A  sum- 
mary appears  in  Fred  B.  Rogers,  Soldiers  of  the  Overland,  San  Francisco, 
1938,  pp.  88-94. 


94  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

they  are  to  be  distributed.  If  this  is  done,  this  country  can  be 
prospected  for  its  minerals,  and  the  northern  gold  mines  worked 
with  safety  and  increased  advantages.  .  .  . 

XCIX 

William  P.  Dole,  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  J.  P. 

Usher,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  dated 

Oct.  31,  1863.    Extract."" 

*      *      * 

With  the  exception  of  a  report  from  Agent  Hatch,  who  is  in 
charge  of  the  Spanish  fork  reservation  in  Utah,  and  Agent  Bancroft 
in  Washington  Territory,  no  reports  have  been  received  from  any 
of  the  respective  superintendents  of  Arizona,  Utah,  Nevada,  Wash- 
ington, and  Idaho;  consequently  I  can  present  but  httle  information 
in  regard  to  the  wants  and  requirements  of  the  Indian  service 
within  the  limits  of  each.""    *      *      * 

Treaties  of  amity  and  peace  have  been  concluded  with  the 
Shoshones,  of  Utah  and  Nevada,  as  follows,  viz:  At  Fort  Bridger, 
July  2,  1863,  by  Governor  Doty  and  Agent  Mann,  as  commission- 
ers on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  the  eastern  bands  of  said 
Indians;  at  Box  Elder,  July  30,  by  Governor  Doty  and  General 
Connor,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  the  northwestern 
bands;  and  at  Ruby  valley,  October  1,  by  Governors  Doty  and 
Nye,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  the  western  bands. 
These  Indians  have  long  been  a  scourge  to  the  citizens  of  Utah  and 
Nevada,  and  a  terror  to  the  emigrants  and  travellers  over  the 
routes  leading  through  those  Territories.  From  the  representations 
made  by  Governor  Doty,  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  those 
treaties  have  been  entered  into  by  the  Indians  with  a  sincere 
desire  for  peace,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  friendly  relations 
thus  inaugurated  may  be  maintained  by  wise  and  judicious  action 
on  our  part.  The  scarcity  of  game  in  these  Territories,  and  the 
occupation  of  the  most  fertile  portions  thereof  by  our  settlements, 
have  reduced  these  Indians  to  a  state  of  extreme  destitution,  and 
for  several  years  past  they  have  been  almost  literally  compelled 
to  resort  to  plunder  in  order  to  obtain  the  necessaries  of  life.  It  is 
not  to  be  expected  that  a  wild  and  warlike  people  will  tamely 
submit  to  the  occupation  of  their  country  by  another  race,  and  to 
starvation  as  a  consequence  thereof.  It  was  perhaps  unavoidable 
that,  in  taking  possession  of  these  Territories,  hostilities  should 
ensue  between  our  own  people  and  the  Indians,  as  the  latter  knew 
but  little  of  the  vast  disparity  between  their  resources  and  power 


204.  38th  Congress,   1st  Session,  House  Executive  Document  1    (Serial 
1182),  pp.  155-156. 

205.  The  Utah  report  came  in  belatedly  and  was  appended  to  the  Com- 
missioner's Annual  Report;  see  Document  XCVIII. 


WASHAKIE   AND  THE   SHOSHONI  95 

and  our  own,  and  consequently  would  not  listen  to  any  reasonable 
propositions  on  our  part.  Much  credit  is  due  to  General  Connor 
and  the  forces  under  his  command,  for  their  prompt  and  efficient 
services  in  chastising  these  Indians  for  their  outrages  and  depre- 
dations upon  the  whites,  and  in  compelhng  them  to  sue  for  peace. 
Now  that  this  desideratum  has  been  attained,  I  respectfully  recom- 
mend that  measures  be  taken  for  the  negotiation  of  further  treaties 
with  the  Indians,  having  for  their  object  the  extinguishment  of 
their  title  to  the  soil,  and  the  setting  apart  of  a  suitable  portion 
of  the  public  domain  upon  which  they  may  be  concentrated,  and 
so  provided  for  that  they  need  not  be  compelled  to  resort  to 
plunder  in  order  to  sustain  life. 


James   Duane   Doty,   Commissioner   to   William    P.    Dole, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt  Lake 

City,  Nov.  10,  1863.'" 

Sir 

The  Map  transmitted  to  me  by  the  Department  is  herewith 
returned,  with  the  exterior  boundaries  of  the  Territory  claimed 
by  the  shoshonees  in  their  recent  Treaties,  as  also  the  lines  of  the 
country  occupied  by  different  portions  of  ths  Tribe,  indicated 
upon  it  as  correctly  as  the  map  will  allow.  They  fixed  their 
Eastern  boundary  on  the  crest  of  the  Rocky  Mountains;  but  it  is 
certain  that  they,  as  well  as  the  Bannacks,  hunt  the  buffalo  below 
the  Three  Forks  of  the  Missouri  and  on  the  headwaters  of  the 
Yellow  Stone  and  Wind  rivers. 

As  none  of  the  Indians  of  this  country  have  permanent  places 
of  abode,  in  their  hunting  excursions  they  wander  over  an  immense 
region,  extending  from  the  Fisheries  at  and  below  Salmon  Falls 
on  the  Shoshonee  river,  near  the  Oregon  line,  to  the  sources  of 
that  stream,  and  to  the  buffalo  country  beyond.  The  Shoshonees 
and  Bannacks  are  the  only  nations  which,  to  my  knowledge,  hunt 
together  over  the  same  ground. 

Replying  further  to  your  Letter,  dated  July  22°^,  1863,  I  beg 
leave  to  refer  to  my  Letter  to  the  Commissioner,  dated  February 
7^^,  1862,  in  relation  to  the  Indian  Tribes  in  this  Superintendency; 
and  to  add,  that  the  Bands  represented  at  the  Treaty  of  Fort 
Bridger,  on  the  2"*^  day  of  July  last,  it  was  estimated  numbered 


206.  D/290-1863.      Printed    rather    carelessly   in:    38th    Congress,    2nd 
Session,  House  Executive  Document  1  (Serial  1220),  pp.  318-320. 


96  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

between  three  and  four  thousand  souls,  over  a  thousand  of  whom 
were  present  at,  and  immediately  after,  the  conclusion  of  the 
Treaty. 

They  arz  known  as  Wau'shakee's  Band  (who  is  the  principal 
chief  of  the  nation; 

Won'apitz  Band, 

Shau'wuno's    " 

Tiba'gan's 

Pee'astoa'gah's    " 

To'timee's 

A?h"ingodim'ah's  "      He  was  killed  at  the  battle  on  Bear  River. 

Sagowitz  "  Wounded  in  the  same  battle. 

O'retzim'awik     " 

Bazil's 

Sanpitz  "     The  bands  of  this  chief  and  of  Sagowitz  were 

nearly  exterminated  in  the  same  battle. 

The  chiefs  at  this  treaty  in  fact  represented  nearly  the  whole 
nation;  and  they  were  distinctly  informed — and  they  agreed — that 
the  annuities  provided  in  this  treaty  and  such  others  as  might  be 
formed,  were  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  Bands  of  the  Shoshonee 
nation  who  might  give  their  assent  to  their  terms.  And  this  has 
been  the  understanding  at  each  treaty. 

At  the  Treaty  concluded  at  Box  Elder  on  the  30'^  of  July,  the 
first  object  was  to  effect  and  secure  a  peace  with  Pokatel'lo;  as  the 
road  to  Beaver  Head  Gold  Mines,  and  those  on  Boise  river,  as 
well  as  the  northern  California  and  southern  Oregon  roads,  pass 
through  his  country.    There  were  present 

Pokatello's  Band 

Toomont'so's   " 

Sanpitz 

To'so 

Bear  Hunter's  "  All  but  7  of  this  Band  were  killed  at  Bear 
river  battle. 

Sagowitz  "     This  chief  was  shot  by  a  white  man  a  few 

days  before  the  treaty,  and  could  not  come  from  his  Weekeeup  to 
the  Treaty  ground,  but  he  assented  to  all  of  its  provisions  He, 
and  Sanpitz  endeavored  to  be  at  Ft.  Bridger,  to  unite  in  the  treaty 
there,  but  did  not  arrive  in  time. 

The  chiefs  of  several  smaller  bands  were  also  present  and  signed 
the  treaty,  which  is  considered  of  more  importance  than  any  made 
this  season,  in  saving  the  lives  and  securing  from  depredations 
the  property  of  our  citizens — Emigrants  as  well  as  others.  These 
bands  are  generally  known  as  "The  Sheep  Eaters";  and  their 
number  is  estimated  at  one  thousand. 

At  the  Treaty  concluded  at  Ruby  Valley,  on  the  1st.  of  October, 
the  Western  Shoshonees  were  represented  by  the  two  principal 


WASHAKIE   AND   THE   SHOSHONI  97 

Bands — the  Tosowitch  (White  Knife)  and  Unkoah's.  From  the 
best  information  I  could  get,  1  estimated  the  Western  Bands — 
sometimes  called  "Shoshonee  Diggers-" — at  twenty  five  hundred 
souls.  But  the  Bands  on  the  lower  Humboldt  and  west  of  Smith's 
Creek,  are  not  included  in  this  estimate.  Govr.  Nye  proposed  to 
meet  some  of  them  at  Reese  river,  on  his  return  to  Carson  from 
Ruby. 

At  the  Treaty  at  Tuilla  Valley,  on  the  1 2th  of  October,  with  the 
Goaship  or  Kumumbar  Bands,  who  are  connected  with  the  Sho- 
shonees  and  are  chiefly  of  that  Tribe,  there  were  three  hundred  and 
fifty  present.  Others,  from  Ibapah,  Shell  creek,  and  the  Desert, 
would  have  joined  them  but  for  their  fear  of  the  soldiers.  They 
number  about  one  hundred  more;  and  there  is  also  a  portion  of 
this  tribe  who  are  mixed  with  the  Pahvon'tee  tribe,  and  occupy 
the  southern  part  of  the  Goaship  country,  amounting  to  two  hun- 
dred more.  They  are  the  poorest  and  most  miserable  Indians  I 
have  met.  They  have  neither  horses  nor  guns.  I  have  seen  several 
of  them  at  work  for  farmers  at  Deep  Creek  and  Grantsville,  and 
therefore  conclude  that  they  would  soon  learn  to  cultivate  the 
ground  for  themselves  and  take  care  of  stock,  if  they  were  assisted 
in  a  proper  way.  They  have  expressed  a  strong  desire  to  become 
settled  as  farmers,  and  I  should  be  glad  to  see  them  located  as  such, 
at  a  distance  from  the  Overland  Mail  route.  More  than  a  hundred 
of  them  have  been  killed  by  the  soldiers  during  the  past  year,  and 
the  survivors  beg  for  peace.  It  was  the  intention  &  understanding 
that  all  of  the  Goaship  Tribe  shall  participate  in  the  benefits  of 
the  treaty. 

At  the  Treaty  of  Soda  Springs  on  the  14th  of  October,  with  the 
mixed  Bands  of  Shoshonees  and  Bannacks  roaming  in  the  Valley 
of  Shoshonee  river,  there  were  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  present 
with  their  families.  Tindo'ih  and  the  chiefs  of  several  other  bands 
sent  word  that  they  assented  to  the  Treaty,  and  desired  to  be 
considered  parties  to  it;  but  they  could  not  remain,  as  it  was  so 
late  in  the  season  they  were  compelled  to  leave  for  their  buffalo 
hunting  grounds.  I  had  seen  these  bands,  on  Snake  river,  in  the 
mounth  of  May  last,  in  council,  found  them  peaceable  and  friendly, 
and  explained  to  them  the  objects  for  which  it  was  proposed  to 
hold  a  treaty  before  the  snow  fell. 

Those  now  present  were  —  Toso-kwan'beraht,  the  princiDal 
Chief  of  the  Bannack  nation,  commonly  known  as  "Grand  Co- 
quin":  Tah'gee:  —  Mat'igund,  and  other  principal  men.  This  last 
chief  and  his  band  live  at  the  Shoshonee  river  Ferry,  where  he 
meets  all  the  travellers  to  and  from  the  mines.""'     He  has  alwavs 


207.  This  ferry  was  at  present  Idaho  Falls. 


98  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

been  friendly  to  them;  and  all  of  these  Bands  can  render  great 
service  to  the  Emigrants,  or  do  them  great  injury.  They  number 
about  one  thousand  souls,  as  near  as  I  can  ascertain. 

The  whole  number  of  Shoshonee,  Goaships,  and  Bannacks,  who 
are  parties  to  these  Treaties,  may  be  estimated  at  Eight  thousand, 
six  hundred  and  fifty. 

The  amount  to  be  paid  to  them  annually  in  goods,  &c.,  is — to 
the  Shoshonees  &  Bannacks,  twenty  thousand  dollars;  and  to  the 
Goaships  one  thousand  dollars,  for  the  term  of  twenty  years. 
This  last  sum  I  think  ought  to  be  increased  to  two  thousand  dollars, 
especially  if  they  are  to  be  settled  as  husbandmen  or  herdsmen. 

The  importance  of  these  Treaties  to  the  Government  and  to 
its  citizens,  can  only  be  appreciated  by  those  who  know  the  value 
of  the  Continental  Telegraph  and  Overland  Stage  to  the  commer- 
cial and  mercantile  world,  and  the  safety  and  security  which  peace 
alone  can  give  to  Emigrant  Trains,  and  to  the  travel  to  the  Gold 
Discoveries  in  the  North  which  exceed  in  richness — at  least  in 
the  quality  of  the  gold — any  discoveries  on  this  Continent.  .  .  . 

CI 

William  P.  Dole,  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  J.  P. 
Usher,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  dated  Dec.  30,  1863.'"' 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  herewith,  for  your  considera- 
tion, and  if  approved  by  you,  for  transmission  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  to  be  by  him  laid  before  the  Senate  for  its 
constitutional  action  thereon,  the  following  named  treaties  with 
certain  Indian  tribes,  viz: 

With  the  eastern  bands  of  Shoshonees,  July  2,  1863,  at  Fort 
Bridger; 

With  the  northwestern  bands  of  Shoshonees,  at  Box  Elder,  July 
30,  1863; 

With  the  western  bands  of  Shoshonees,  at  Ruby  valley,  October 
1,  1863; 

With  the  Goship  bands  of  Shoshonees,  at  Tuilla  valley,  October 
12,  1863; 
and 

With  the  mixed  bands  of  Bannacks  and  Shoshonees,  at  Soda 
Springs,  October  14,  1863. 

I  also  enclose  a  copy  of  a  letter  of  Governor  Doty,  relating  to 
the  Indians,  parties  to  the  foregoing  treaties,"™  with  a  copy  of  a 
map  furnished  by  that  gentleman,  showing  the  territory  ceded.  .  .  . 


208.  38th  Congress,  2nd  Session,  House  Executive  Document  1   (Serial 
1220),  p.  318. 

209.  See  Document  C. 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI  99 

CII 

J.  p.  Usher,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  to  William  P.  Dole, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Washington,  D.  C, 

March  12,  1864."" 

Sir, 

I  herewith  transmit  to  you: 

1 .  A  treaty  with  the  Mixed  Bands  of  Bannacks  and  Shoshones, 
concluded  on  the  14"  of  Oct°.  1863,  together  with  a  resolution  of 
the  Senate  of  the  7th  instant,  advising  and  consenting  to  the 
ratification  of  the  same  with  an  amendment.'" 

2.  A  treaty  with  the  Shoshone  Nation  of  Indians,  of  the  Eastern 
Bands  concluded  on  the  2**.  of  July  1863 — with  a  resolution  by 
the  Senate  of  the  7th  inst,  advising  and  consenting  to  the  ratifica- 
tion of  the  same  with  an  amendment. 

3.  A  treaty  with  the  North wetsern  Bands  of  Shoshone  Indians, 
concluded  the  30'*^  of  July  1863,  together  with  a  resolution  of  the 
Senate  of  the  7th  inst.  advising  and  consenting  to  the  ratification 
thereof  with  an  amendment. 

4.  A  treaty  with  the  Shoshone-Goship  Bands  of  Indians,  con- 
cluded on  the  12th  of  October  1863,  together  with  a  resolution 
of  the  Senate,  of  the  7th  instant,  advising  and  consenting  to  the 
ratification  of  the  same  with  an  amendment. 

To  the  end  that  these  amendments  proposed  by  the  Senate,  may 
be  presented  to  the  tribes  of  Indians  named,  for  their  accep- 
tance. ... 


cm 

James  Duane  Doty,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  C.  M.  Mix, 

Acting  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  New  York, 

April  21,  1864."^ 

Dear  Sir 

Mr.  Dole  authorise  me  to  ask  of  you  to  send  to  me  here,  by  the 
Express,  two  of  the  Small  medals  for  Chiefs —  I  wish  them  for 


210.  1/463-1864. 

211.  The  substance  of  the  amendment  in  each  case,  was:  "Nothing 
herein  contained  shall  be  construed  or  taken  to  admit  any  other  or  greater 
title  or  interest  in  the  lands  embraced  within  the  Territories  described  in 
Said  Treaty  in  Said  Tribes  or  Bands  of  Indians  than  existed  in  them  upon 
the  acquisition  of  said  Territories  from  Mexico  by  the  laws  thereof." 

212.  D/399-1864. 


100  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING         ■ 

Waushakee  and  Dindoah-     Please  send  them  before  Monday,  if 
you  can —  .  .  . 

CIV 

William  P.  Dole,  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  James 

DuANE  Doty,  Governor  and  Ex-Officio  Supt.  of  Indian 

Affairs,  dated  May  17,  1864.''' 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  herewith  four  treaties  nego- 
tiated with  the  mixed  bands  of  Bannacks  and  Shoshonees,  the 
eastern  band  of  Shoshonees,  the  northwestern  bands  of  Shosho- 
nees, and  the  Shoshoneee  Goship  bands  of  Indians,  respectively, 
to  each  of  which  treaties  the  Senate  has  made  an  amendment. 

You  will  please  cause  these  several  treaties,  as  amended,  to  be 
laid  before  the  respective  tribes,  and  endeavor  to  secure  their 
assent  thereto  at  as  early  a  day  as  practicable,  and  return  the  same 
to  this  office. 

As  there  is  no  fund  from  which  to  defray  the  expenses  incidental 
to  calling  the  Indians  together  for  the  express  purpose  of  procuring 
their  assent  to  the  amendments,  you  can,  for  this  purpose,  probably 
improve  the  occasion  of  their  assembling  for  their  payments; 
otherwise  the  expense  will  have  to  be  paid  out  of  such  funds  as 
are  at  your  disposal  for  the  incidental  expenses  of  your  superin- 
tendency.  ... 

CV 

James   Duane   Doty,   Governor  and   Ex   Officio   Supt.   of 

Indian  Affairs,  to  William  P.  Dole,  Commissioner  of  Indian 

Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt  Lake  City,  June  13,  1864.'" 

Sir. — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  your  Letter  dated  May 
17*^  '64,  with  its  enclosures — being  four  Treaties  with  the  mixed 
Bands  of  Shoshonees  and  Bannacks,  with  instructions  to  procure 
their  assent  to  the  amendments  proposed  by  the  Senate. 

Having  lately  returned  to  the  Territory  I  have  not  learned  where 
these  Bands  are  now  to  be  found — except  Washakee's  Band  (the 
North  Eastern  Shoshonees)  who  I  am  informed  are  on  the  Wind 
river  Mountains,  where  they  have  lately  encountered  the  Crows 
in  several  battles,  the  occasion  for  which,  it  is  represented,  was  an 
attempt  made  by  the  Crows  to  steal  the  horses  of  the  Shoshonees 
who  were  hunting  the  Buffalo  in  the  vicinity  of  those  Mountains. 

As  funds  will  be  required  for  the  purposes  indicated  in  your 


213.  38th  Congress,  2nd  Session,  House  Executive  Document  1   (Serial 
1220),  p.  323. 

214.  D/449-1864;  now  filed  in  Ratified  Treaties  File. 


WASAKIE   AND  THE   SHOSHONI  101 

Letter,  as  also  for  the  current  expenses  of  the  Superintendency 
(without  which  the  duties  cannot  be  performed)  I  hope  to  receive 
soon  a  notice  of  a  deposit  to  my  credit  with  the  Assistant  Treasurer 
N.  Y.  of  such  sum  as  you  may  deem  ad^equate  for  those  objects 
until  the  arrival  of  the  Superintendent."  " -Whether  he  has  left  the 
Missouri  is  unknown  to  me.  I  infer  from  your  Letter  that  the 
Department  desires  that  I  should  as  Governor  of  the  Territory, 
continue  to  perform  the  duties  of  Superintendent. 

The  best  time  to  procure  the  assent  of  these  Bands  to  the 
Amendments,  will  be  on  the  arrival  of  the  goods  which  are  to  be 
received  by  them  under  the  provisions  of  the  Treaties.  It  is  very 
desirable  that  I  should  be  informed  when  the  goods  are  to  be 
delivered  by  the  Freighters  at  the  places  where  the  Treaties  were 
held,  that  I  may  be  able  to  give  due  notice  to  the  Bands  who  are 
to  receive  them.  As  they  are  scattered  over  a  country  several 
hundred  miles  in  extent,  it  will  take  several  weeks  to  assemble 
them. 

Having  just  passed  through  about  eleven  hundred  miles  of  the 
Indian  country  from  the  Missouri  to  this  place,  I  am  enabled  to 
state  to  the  Department  that  there  were  but  few  Indians  upon  the 
Overland  Mail  Route,  and  that  they  were  entirely  peaceable  and 
friendly  to  the  whites.  .  .  . 

CVI 

Luther  Mann,  Jr.,  Indian  Agent,  to  James  Duane  Doty, 

Acting  Supt.  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Fort  Bridger  Agency, 

June  20,  1864."" 

Sir  One  of  Washakees  Indians  brought  to  this  place  Nineteen, 
19,  head  of  Horses  Said  to  have  been  Stolen  from  the  Miners  at 
Beaver  Head  [Montana]  by  a  party  of  Too  Coo  Rekah  or  Sheep 
Eater  Indians  they  make  the  Excuse  that  they  did  not  know  that  a 
Treaty  had  been  made  with  the  Whites  After  being  informed  of 
that  fact  they  delivered  to  One  of  Washakees  Indians  the  Horses 
who  brought  them  here  by  whom  Shall  they  be  received  the 
Military  here  or  by  myself  The  Act  to  regulate  trade  and  inter- 
course with  the  Indians  appears  to  make  it  the  duty  of  the  agent 
Section  Seventeen  of  the  act  requires  that  all  aplications  for  redress 
or  recovery  of  the  Stolen  property  Shall  be  made  to  the  agent 
please  confer  a  favour  by  giving  me  instructions  in  the  matter  and 
greatly  Oblige  .  .  . 


215.  The  new  superintendent  was  O.  H.  Irish,  Doty  having  in  1863  been 
elevated  to  the  governorship. 

216.  D/461-1864  End. 


102  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


CVII 


James  Duane  Doty,  Ex  Officio  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to 

Luther  Mann,  Jr.,  Indian  Agent,  dated  Great  Salt  Lake 

City,  June  23,  1864/" 

Sir:  Your  Letter  dated  June  20,  in  relation  to  19  Horses  Stolen 
by  the  Sheep  Eaters  &  delivered  by  them  to  Waushakee,  is  received 
this  morning.  It  is  proper  that  you  as  Agent  should  receive  them 
of  the  Indian  having  them  in  charge,  and  immediately  give  notice 
to  the  parties  from  whom  they  have  been  taken  that  they  are  in 
your  charge,  and  requesting  them  to  come  forward  and  prove 
their  property  and  take  them  away  after  paying  expenses.  A 
proper  reward  should  be  given  by  them  to  the  Indian  who  has 
brought  them  to  you,  as  well  as  to  Waushakee — 

If  the  Claimants  are  unknown,  it  seems  proper  that  you  Should 
give  notice  in  the  Settlements  on  Beaver  Head  in  some  public 
manner,  that  these  horses  are  in  your  possession. 

I  shall  forward  your  Letter  to  the  Commissioner,  and  request 
of  him  to  give  you  further  Instructions  if  required.  .  .  . 

CVIII 

James  Duane  Doty,  Ex  Officio  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to 

William  P.  Dole,  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated 

Great  Salt  Lake  City,  June  23,  1864."'' 

Sir: 

I  enclose  herewith  a  Letter  from  Agent  Mann  in  relation  to 
Horses  stolen  in  the  Beaver  Head  country  (Montana)  by  the  Sheep 
Eaters,  and  surrendered  by  them  to  Waushakee  on  being  informed 
by  him  of  the  provisions  in  the  Treaties  made  last  season  -  Also 
my  Letter  to  Mr.  Mann;  wishing  such  further  Instructions  may  be 
given  him  by  the  Commissioner  as  the  case  may  require. 

This  is  one  of  the  benefits  derived  from  the  Treaties  of  last 
year,  and  shows  the  determination  of  Waushakee  to  maintain 
peace  with  the  whites  .  .  . 


217.  D/461-1864  End. 

218.  D/461-1864. 


Wyoming  State  Mlstorical  Society 

PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE 
By 

DeWitt  Dominick 

JOHN  COLTER 

The  year  1957  marks  the  150th  Anniversary  of  John  Colter's 
solitary  trek  through  the  Northwestern  part  of  Wyoming. 

It  seems  fitting  that  the  Wyoming  State  Historical  Society  should 
commemorate  the  Anniversary.  This  will  be  done  in  cooperation 
with  the  Park  County  Chapter  at  the  Historical  Society's  Annual 
Meeting  in  Cody,  Wyoming,  September  27,  28,  29. 

There  are  many  John  Colter  enthusiasts  whose  imaginations  are 
captured  by  the  terrific  personality  of  this  true  American  explorer 
and  early  mountain  man.  There  are  expert  historians  who  have 
spent  meticulous  research  in  an  attempt  to  piece  together  the  few 
unknown  facts  about  this  man. 

During  the  search  for  facts  controversy  has  arisen  among  the 
expert  historians  concerning  specific  details  of  Colter's  route  in 
1807-1808.  Such  controversy  is  healthy;  it  stimulates  further 
search  for  truth  and  some  day  may  bring  together  the  several 
missing  parts  of  the  fascinating  story.  Such  controversy  also  fires 
the  imagination  of  amateur  historians,  and  like  the  writer  of  this 
article  stimulates  and  allows  for  conjecture  and  study. 

The  purpose  of  this  short  report,  however,  is  to  confine  ourselves 
to  some  of  the  established  facts,  first  considering  Colter  himself, 
and  second  concerning  his  route  near  Cody,  Jackson  and  Yellow- 
stone. 

For  these  facts  we  refer  specifically  to  Stallo  Vinton's  book, 
John  Colter  Discoverer  of  the  Yellowstone;  and  to  Burton  Harris's 
book,  John  Colter.  These  fine  books  review  material  set  down 
by  Lewis  and  Clark  in  their  journals  and  delve  into  hosts  of  other 
authoritative  references. 

It  is  quite  well  agreed  that  John  Colter  was  born  in  Virginia, 
near  Staunton,  sometime  between  1770-1775.  We  can  safely  say 
that  he  was  a  man  of  about  35  years  when  he  made  his  famous 
trek  through  Northwestern  Wyoming.  It  is  well  established  too 
and  no  one  can  deny  that  he  was  intelligent  and  resourceful  and 
must  "have  been  driven  by  some  overmastering  power"  according 
to  Vinton. 

He  stood  probably  5  feet  10  inches  tall,  was  thin,  wiry,  alert, 
strong  and  quick  with  an  obvious  ability  to  overcome  extremes  in 


104  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

weather  and  terrain.  He'd  learned  to  hunt  and  shoot  before 
joining  the  Lewis  and  Clark  expedition.  He  had  also  learned  how 
to  improvise  in  order  to  preserve  himself  in  difficult  situations  in 
the  wilderness.  Our  imagination  can  picture  much  more  about 
this  man  as  we  unfold  his  exploits  but  there  are  no  photographs 
and  very  few  personal  facts  to  help  give  us  a  clearer  picture.  As 
Vinton  says  "there  still  remains  an  aura  of  mystery"  about  John 
Colter. 

Quoting  Vinton  again,  "because  of  this  irresistible  daemon  of 
adventure"  burning  in  his  breast  Colter  chose  to  return  to  the 
wilderness,  turning  back  from  near  civilization  on  the  Missouri. 
He  was  granted  permission  to  leave  the  expedition  by  Lewis  and 
Clark  at  Mandan  on  the  expedition's  return  trip. 

He  started  back  up  the  Missouri  with  two  beaver  trappers, 
Dixon  and  Hancock,  and  eventually  reached  with  them,  according 
to  Harris,  the  mouth  of  Clark's  Canyon  on  the  Clark's  Fork,  where 
they  spent  some  time  trapping.  We  next  learn  that  Colter  was  at 
Manuel's  Fort  in  the  fall  of  1807.  Manuel's  Fort  was  located 
below  the  present  site  of  Billings,  Montana.  He  was  commissioned 
by  Manuel  Lisa  to  look  for  friendly  Indians  south  and  west  of  the 
Fort.  This  was  to  be  an  attempt  to  bring  Indians  to  trade  their 
furs  at  the  Fort.  Thus  he  left  Manuel  Lisa  some  time  in  the  fall 
of  1807. 

His  pack  was  small,  perhaps  30  pounds  in  weight;  the  essentials 
included  salt  and  one  blanket;  his  dress  was  what  he  had  on  his 
back  and  feet;  his  knife,  gun,  powder,  and  ball  were  his  main  tools 
for  existence. 

We  know  he  came  to  the  present  site  of  Cody  in  1807;  he  either' 
came  up  the  Clarks  Fork,  leaving  present  Montana  and  following 
it  to  the  Wyoming  line,  then  over  to  the  Shoshone;  or  he  came  up 
the  Big  Horn  River  through  Pryor  Gap.  In  any  event  we  know 
he  passed  Heart  Mountain  and  stopped  at  the  present  DeMaris 
Springs  then  called  "Stinking  Water". 

There  is  no  doubt  as  to  his  route  from  then  on  until  he  reached 
the  Wind  River  because  historians  do  seem  to  agree  that  he  went 
up  the  present  Southfork  of  the  Shoshone,  which  was  then  called 
by  the  Indians  "Salt  Fork",  and  in  so  doing  he  passed  the  "Boiling 
Tar  Springs",  now  somewhere  under  the  present  Buffalo  Bill 
Lake,  at  the  junction  of  the  present  North  and  Southfork  of  the 
Shoshone.  He'd  been  told,  probably  by  the  Indians,  that  a  "14 
days  hike"  would  bring  him  to  the  Salt  Caves,  famous  to  the 
Indians  and  even  known  to  the  Spaniards.  It  seems  logical  that 
he  dropped  over  into  the  Wind  River  country  at  the  head  of  the 
Southfork  passing  through  Bliss  Meadows.  Those  of  us  who  have 
pack  tripped  in  this  area  know  the  natural  path  to  the  south  and 
east  of  BHss  Creek.  All  of  this  travel  was  accomplished  in  winter 
by  Colter  and  he  by  necessity  had  to  resort  to  the  use  of  snow 
shoes;  the  art  of  making  these  he  had  learned  from  the  Indians. 


WYOMING  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  105 

Colter  was  apparently  inspired  to  press  on  during  the  obvious 
winter  difficulties  for  at  least  three  reasons.  1)  He  was  looking 
for  the  Salt  Caves.  2)  He  was  looking  for  friendly  Indians,  per- 
haps wintering  in  the  neighborhood,  with  whom  he  could  trade 
and  fulfill  Lisa's  wish  to  persuade  to  trade  at  Manuel's  Fort. 
3)  To  find  the  headwaters  of  the  "Pierre  Jaune"  known  now  as 
the  Yellowstone. 

Those  of  us  who  have  experienced  sub  zero  weather  in  the  hills 
can  appreciate  the  hardships  a  single  man  would  experience  with 
scanty  equipment.  We  suffer  considerable  despite  all  modern 
equipment  and  canned  foods.  Only  Colter's  impelling  tenacity 
and  rugged  physique  could  have  withstood  these  extremes.  Some 
of  us,  recently,  spent  a  night  in  a  cabin  near  Yellowstone  Park; 
the  temperature  dropped  to  30  degrees  below  zero;  it  was  a  strug- 
gle with  dry  wood  and  electric  heaters  to  bring  the  temperature  up 
to  zero  in  the  cabin.  Water  from  the  stove  froze  before  one  could 
brush  one's  teeth.  How  incongruous  and  soft  this  would  have 
seemed  to  Colter. 

There  is  no  question  that  John  Colter  found  his  way  into  Jack- 
son's Hole,  either  by  the  Union  Pass  leading  to  the  Green  River 
and  north  to  the  Gros  Ventre,  or  by  Togwotee  Pass.  He  passed 
through  the  Jackson  Hole  valley  and  over  onto  the  west  slopes 
of  the  Tetons  going  over  Teton  Pass.  This  brought  him  well  into 
the  year  of  1808  and  could  make  authentic  the  famous  Colter 
Stone  which  was  found  on  the  west  slopes  still  within  borders  of 
the  State  of  Wyoming.  This  stone,  shaped  in  the  form  of  a  man's 
head,  with  John  Colter  on  one  side  and  1808  on  the  other  carved 
deeply  into  the  stone,  is  under  dispute  as  to  its  authenticity. 

Colter  must  have  known  now  that  the  headwaters  of  the  Yellow- 
stone had  to  lie  north  and  east  of  his  present  position.  This  caused 
him  to  cross  back  over  the  Tetons  either  retracing  his  steps  over 
Teton  Pass  or  going  further  north  and  crossing  a  pass  which  led 
him  to  the  upper  end  of  Jackson's  Lake,  then  called  "Lake  Bid- 
die";  he  must  have  passed  this  lake  at  its  north  end  giving  Colter 
Bay  its  name. 

He  crossed  the  Snake  River  above  the  Lake,  then  following  a 
well  marked  Indian  trail  he  found  his  way  to  Shoshone  and  Heart 
Lakes  and  from  there  thence  to  Yellowstone  Lake,  called  "Lake 
Eustis." 

The  Indians  had  told  Captain  Clark  "that  there  was  a  place 
where  the  earth  trembled  and  frequent  noises  like  thunder  were 
heard,  a  place  where  their  children  could  not  sleep".  Colter  no 
doubt  knew  of  this  and  perhaps  he  knew  he  was  near  the  famous 
Geyser  Basin  near  Old  Faithful  and  the  Norris  Basin.  Some  his- 
torians dispute  the  fact  that  he  ever  saw  these  Basins;  again,  we 
can  not  be  sure,  but  the  facts  do  show  that  he  eventually  travelled 
north  through  the  present  Yellowstone  Park  and  came  upon  the 
well  known  Bannock  Trail  which  leads  North  and  East  crossing 


106 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


Yellowstone  River  a  little  way  below  Tower  Falls.  It  then  passes 
to  the  Lamar  River,  up  Soda  Butte  Creek,  and  finds  its  way  near 
the  present  site  of  Cooke  City.  By  this  time  we  think  that  Colter 
probably  was  being  guided  by  friendly  Indians,  either  the  Bannocks 
or  the  Shoshones,  who  by  taking  this  trail  avoided  the  hostile 
Blackfeet  to  the  north.  In  any  event  Colter  followed  down  the 
Clarks  Fork  and  soon  found  himself  in  familiar  territory.  He 
seemed  to  know  the  Sunlight  Basin.  Harris  believes  he  explored 
this  when  he  was  trapping  near  there  with  Dixon  and  Hancock, 
having  come  up  through  the  mouth  at  Clarks  Fork  Canyon  or 
over  Dead  Indian  Hill  in  1806  and  '07. 

According  to  Burton  Harris  he  chose  to  return  to  the  "Stinking 
Waters"  back  over  Dead  Indian  Pass  before  returning  down  to 
Manuel's  Fort  and  thus  he  completed  the  circle. 

This  was  a  fascinating  and  exciting  exploration  done  on  foot, 
the  hardest  terrain  in  winter,  by  a  man  who  for  the  most  part  was 
completely  alone.  It  is  difficult  to  comprehend  the  seemingly 
impossible  feat.  His  place  in  Western  History  is  gradually  reach- 
ing the  stature  it  deserves.  He  was  truly  "driven  by  some  over- 
mastering power,  some  irresistible  daemon  of  adventure". 


Wyoming  At'ckaeological  J^otes 

STONE  ARTIFACTS 

By 

L.  C.  Steege 

CUTTING  ARTIFACTS 

Since  it  is  envisaged  that  the  American  Archaeologist,  both 
amateur  and  professional,  will  persist  in  using  the  term  "blade" 
in  a  very  broad  and  classificatory  sense  as  a  catch-all  for  a  goodly 
amount  of  finished  artifacts,  I  will  not  attempt  to  deviate  from  this 
common  practice  either. 

At  the  beginning,  any  sharp  edge  of  a  thin  flake  was  considered 
sufficient  for  a  good  cutting  edge.  When  the  edge  became  dulled 
and  chipped  from  use,  the  flake  was  discarded  and  another  picked 
up  either  as  found  in  nature  or  struck  off  from  some  suitable 
material.  There  was  no  standard  for  size  or  shape;  the  main 
requirements  were  that  it  be  large  enough  to  be  held  in  a  hand  and 
sufficiently  thin,  sharp  and  strong  enough  to  cut  skin,  tlesh  and 
wood.  This  type  of  cutting  artifact  undoubtedly  lasted  for  a  long 
period  of  time.  By  blunting  one  edge  of  the  flake,  a  great  deal 
more  pressure  could  be  applied  to  the  flake  without  injuring  the 
hand  holding  it.  A  slight  convex  cutting  edge  ending  in  a  point 
added  considerably  to  the  efficiency  of  this  flake  knife.  In  our 
knives  today,  even  with  their  many  specialized  functions  in  our 
modern  lives,  we  see  very  little  change  in  the  shape  of  the  metal 
blade  over  the  stone  flake  knives  of  ancient  origin. 

The  evolution  of  the  flake  into  a  blade  came  with  the  develop- 
ment of  flaking  technics.  At  this  stage  we  have  a  somewhat  rough 
unifaced  or  bifaced  implement  with  a  strong  irregular  V-shaped 
cutting  edge.  These  blades  were  discoid  or  ovate  in  form  and 
were  considerably  larger  than  most  flake  knives.      (Figure   lA) 

Through  the  medium  of  pressure  flaking,  edges  could  be  thinned 
and  straightened  causing  a  much  sharper  cutting  edge.  Some 
blades  were  pointed  (Figure  IB)  which  I  classify  as  "Points". 

Leaf  shaped  blades  (Figure  IC)  and  triangular  shaped  blades 
(Figure  ID)  were  used  very  efficiently  as  knives.  These  types 
are  found  almost  everywhere  in  North  America.  Many  show 
very  careful  exacting  workmanship  with  finely  retouched  edges. 

The  more  highly  specialized  types  of  knives  are  the  "tang 
knives".  (Figures  2 A  and  2B).  These  are  not  a  very  common 
form  and  consequently  are  choice  pieces  for  collectors.  At  first 
these  tang  knives  were  found  only  in  Texas  but  occasionally  one 


108 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


Blade. 


FiQure  I 


r.r 


.fe) 


:W 


Point 


Leaf^vShi^ecy  rriAncfuld.) 


Corner   Ta-n^ 


^l',ttc 


Single.  Gra.vcr         /^u/ti^/e-    G^aver 


vSaw 


WYOMING   ARCHAEOLOGICAL  NOTES  109 

has  turned  up  in  other  Western  States.  Some  very  beautiful 
specimens  have  been  found  in  Wyoming. 

The  purpose  of  the  tang  is  for  the  attachment  of  a  short  handle. 
This  handle  was  for  better  control  of  the  blade  as  well  as  enabling 
the  user  to  have  an  unobstructed  view  of  the  cutting  operations, 
especially  while  cutting  a  definite  pattern.  If  the  truth  were 
known,  I  believe  that  a  good  many  of  the  larger  off-center  arrow- 
heads, which  are  found  everywhere,  would  fall  into  this  tang  knife 
classification  rather  than  into  a  class  of  projectile  points.  Just 
where  the  line  of  distinction  should  be  drawn  is  strictly  the  opinion 
of  the  individual  collector.  . 

"Slitters"  (Figure  2C)  are  a  relatively  new  classification.  These 
may  be  typed  as  a  tang  knife,  however;  they  are  single  notched  and 
have  but  one  barb  which  is  the  cutting  edge.  These  tools  which 
were  mounted  on  a  short  handle  were  very  effective  skinning 
knives.  The  point  was  inserted  through  the  skin  of  a  bird  or 
animal  and  the  tool  rotated  until  the  barb  was  brought  beneath  the 
skin.  Then  by  drawing  the  barb  along  at  an  angle  under  the  skin, 
the  latter  was  easily  cut  and  the  flesh  beneath  it  was  unharmed. 
It  was  very  easy  to  follow  a  straight  or  curved  line  since  the  tool 
was  always  held  in  place  by  the  barb  which  extended  ahead  of 
the  cut.  With  this  tool  it  was  a  simple  task  to  remove  the  thin 
tender  skins  of  birds. 

Not  all  single  notched  artifacts  can  be  classified  as  "slitters". 
Barbs  were  often  broken  off  projectile  points  by  accident.  A  care- 
ful examination  of  single  barbed  points  often  reveals  a  sharp 
retouched  edge  which  indicates  a  definite  cutting  function. 

Occasionally  a  person  finds  a  blade  which  has  a  deeply  serrated 
edge.  (Figure  3A).  These  artifacts  are  the  precessors  to  our 
modern  steel  saws.  They  were  not  too  practical  except  for  use 
on  soft  material.  They  were  used  for  grooving  and  notching  soft 
wood  and  for  rasping  and  leveling  of  high  spots  on  wood  and 
bone.  "Saws"  were  not  common  in  the  Plains  Regions.  They 
were  used  by  some  of  the  Pueblo  cultures  of  the  Southwest  area, 
but  their  greatest  concentration  seems  to  be  in  the  States  of  Mis- 
souri and  Arkansas. 

Gravers  (Figures  3B  and  3C)  are  incising  tools.  The  main 
feature  of  a  graver  is  a  stubby,  sharp  point  formed  on  the  edge  of  a 
flake  or  a  flake  artifact.  The  point  is  formed  by  pressure  flaking 
directed  from  a  single  side  of  a  flake  resulting  in  the  point  being 
unworked  and  flat  on  one  face.  The  points  nearly  always  show 
a  slight  bevel  or  twist  and  were  usually  formed  on  a  dorsal  ridge 
where  it  tapers  to  the  edge  of  a  flake. 

Although  not  a  common  artifact,  gravers  are  found  throughout 
all  of  the  United  States.  They  were  found  at  the  Lindenmeier 
Site  on  the  Wyoming-Colorado  border  forming  part  of  the  Folsom 
Complex.  They  were  found  in  New  Mexico  in  the  Sandia  Cave. 
They   are   associated  with  the   Clear  Fork   Complex   in  Texas. 


no  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Gravers  have  been  found  in  Paleo-Indian  sites  in  Pennsylvania 
and  Massachusetts  and  with  Archaic  Cultures  in  Louisiana,  Illinois 
and  Wisconsin. 

Gravers  had  many  uses.  The  most  common  was  the  engraving 
of  bone,  shell,  wood  and  soft  stone.  Examples  of  this  engraving 
art  on  bone  were  found  at  the  Lindenmeier  Site.  These  little  tools 
could  certainly  be  used  for  piercing  operations  such  as  tatooing 
and  sewing.  The  eye  in  a  bone  needle  could  be  carved  with  a 
graver.  They  were  always  used  in  a  gouging  fashion,  that  is  by  a 
forward,  pushing  movement  with  the  tool  held  in  the  same  manner 
as  a  chisel.     Multiple  pointed  gravers  are  not  uncommon. 

This  important  little  artifact  is  often  overlooked  by  many  ama- 
teur archaeologists  due  to  the  simplicity  in  design.  If  you  find 
a  flake  with  a  small  point  or  spur,  study  it  closely;  perhaps  you 
have  found  a  graver. 


ERRATA 

The  following  corrections  should  be  made  in  the  October  1956 
issue  of  the  Annals  of  Wyoming: 

"Oregon  Trail  Trek  No.  Three"  page   187,  second  paragraph, 
4th  line: 

"One  of  the  victims  had  50  steel-pointed  arrowheads  still 
embedded  in  his  spine;  another  had  two  arrowheads  in  his 
jawbone  and  several  others  deep  in  his  backbone.  All  of  the 
sad  little  group  had  been  riddled  by  arrows." 

"Riverton:  From  Sage  to  City,"  page  128,  paragraph  four: 
"The  land  drawing,  .  .  .  took  place  at  Shoshoni." 
Page  129,  paragraph  four,  the  first  street  named  should  have 
been  Park;  paragraph  five,  the  information  that  Fourth  Street 
was  changed  to  Broadway  should  be  added. 

"Twentieth  Century  Pioneering,"  (review),  paragraph  one:  W. 
S.  Adams  and  Goyne  Drummond  made  the  survey  of  River- 
ton,  not  Frank  H.  Allyn. 


JSook  Keviews 


With  Crook  at  the  Rosebud.     By  J.  W.  Vaughn.      (Harrisburg, 
Pa.:  The  Stackpole  Company,  1956.   245  pp.    lUus.    $5.00.) 

With  Crook  at  the  Rosebud  is  the  most  comprehensive  treatment 
of  this  important  preliminary  to  the  Battle  of  the  Little  Big  Horn 
that  has  been  written,  and  should  be  of  great  interest  to  the  legion 
of  Indian  War  readers. 

The  author  writes  clearly  of  the  Crook  campaign  from  Fort 
Fetterman  to  the  return  to  Goose  Creek,  inclusive,  giving  the 
reader  an  excellent,  broad  picture  of  the  march  to  battle,  the 
engagement  itself,  and  the  withdrawal  and  licking  of  wounds. 
There  are  contained  in  the  volume  also  some  two  dozen  pages  of 
notes,  40  pages  of  appendix,  a  bibliography  and  index.  Within 
the  front  and  rear  covers  are  sketches  of  the  battle  area  showing 
terrain  features,  troop  positions  and  routes  of  movement.  The 
sketch  would  be  more  helpful,  to  some  at  least,  if  it  were  con- 
toured. However,  one  of  imagination  can  visualize,  to  an  appre- 
ciable extent  at  least,  this  omission. 

Not  only  does  the  author  embody  the  product  of  broad  research, 
but  is  able  to  supplement  extensively  through  a  personal  ground 
reconnaissance  aided  by  a  metal  detector  which  permitted  him, 
by  cartridges,  cartridge  cases  and  expended  lead  locations,  to 
corroborate  research  with  physical  evidence  of  considerable  relia- 
bility. Certainly  every  effort  was  made  to  write  with  the  greatest 
authority  available,  and,  although  some  conjecture  must  of  neces- 
sity be  indulged  in,  this  has  been  reduced  to  a  minimum.  The 
net  result  is  a  factual  dissertation  of  conviction.  The  few  good 
illustrations  contribute  little  except  the  boast  of  the  only  published 
picture  of  Crazy  Horse,  the  documentation  of  which  is  not  too 
convincing  and  doubting  Thomases  are  certain  to  register  their 
lack  of  conviction  as  to  its  authenticity. 

The  text  is  rather  extensively  footnoted  to  material  in  the  back 
of  the  book  which  will  be  disconcerting  to  footnote  haters;  there 
are  also  lengthy  quotes  with  which  some  will  find  themselves  in 
discord.  However,  on  the  whole,  the  author  is  to  be  commended 
on  a  well  written,  clearly  described,  and  broad  review  of  one  of  our 
much  neglected  historical  military  incidents,  and  the  publishers 
have  put  his  manuscript  together  in  an  excellent  and  attractive 
publication  to  grace  the  libraries  of  the  great  horde  of  collectors 
of  better  things  in  the  field  of  Indian  Wars  and  Western  Ameri- 
cana, well  worth  the  five  bucks  requested. 

Laramie,  Wyoming       .  Alfred  M.  Pence 


112  ANNALS  OF  WYOiVliNG 

Men  To  Match  My  Mountains.  By  Irving  Stone.  (Garden  City, 
N.  Y.:  Doubleday  and  Company  Inc.  1956.  435  pp.  index; 
end  maps.    $5.95) 

Mr.  Stone  gives  us  humor,  pathos  and  tragedy  in  his  tale  of 
men  and  mountains.  He  is  even  brutally  frank  in  places,  but  his 
frankness  makes  for  readability. 

I  found  many  familiar  names  in  this  book,  but  with  intimate 
details  attached  to  them  that  change  them  from  just  names  to  real 
people  as  I  read. 

John  Charles  Fremont  the  map-maker;  the  dreamer  Adolph 
Heinrich  Joseph  Sutro  who,  after  years  of  heartbreak,  filled  his 
lungs  with  fresh  air  gushing  up  from  his  tunnel;  John  Sutter  who 
had  a  vision;  Lucky  Baldwin;  Pancake  Comstock  who  insisted 
on  getting  a  bill-of-sale  with  his  wife  when  he  bought  her  from  her 
husband;  Theodore  "Crazy"  Judah;  the  Big  Four,  Crocker,  Hunt- 
ington, Hopkins,  Stanford;  H.  A.  W.  Tabor  who  was  a  United 
States  Senator  for  thirty  days,  these  become  more  than  men  who 
made  and  lost  millions. 

Many  pages  are  devoted  to  Utah,  Brigham  Young  and  the  Mor- 
mons and  their  practical  religion.  I  like  this  passage.  "Within 
two  hours  of  their  arrival  they  were  plowing,  and  within  four  hours 
having  found  the  soil  so  hard  it  broke  two  plows,  they  had  dug 
irrigation  ditches  and  were  bringing  water  to  the  earth  in  which 
tomorrow  they  would  plant  their  communal  potatoes  and  corn." 

There  are  women  who  match  mountains  in  this  book  too.  Some 
of  the  outstanding  ones  are  Jessie  Benton  Fremont,  Tamsen  Don- 
ner  of  the  Donner  Party  tragedy,  Leah  Sutro,  Augusta  Tabor, 
Phoebe  Woodruff  who  gained  the  vote  for  Mormon  women,  Juliet 
Brier  and  Baby  Doe  Tabor. 

The  search  for  GOLD  runs  through  the  entire  story.  Denver, 
when  a  lusty  infant,  reports  this:  "At  the  first  funeral  service,  Pat, 
standing  with  the  mourners,  leaned  down  to  examine  the  dirt 
shoveled  from  the  grave  and  instantly  staked  out  a  claim." 

Denver  and  her  sisters  Leadville  and  Central  City,  Virginia  City, 
Nevada,  with  her  short  but  colorful  life.  Salt  Lake  City,  San  Fran- 
cisco and  Sacramento,  those  two  hardy  queens,  were  busy  making 
history  while  Los  Angeles  rested  in  the  sun.  But  in  1887  the 
Santa  Fe  and  Southern  Pacific  railroads  waged  a  transportation 
price  war,  and  for  a  few  days  it  was  possible  to  ride  from  Kansas 
City  to  Los  Angeles  for  a  dollar  bill  and  her  mushroom  growth 
began. 

This  account  of  the  opening  of  the  far  west,  Colorado,  Utah, 
Nevada,  and  California,  from  1840  to  1900  is  a  book  to  read  and 
read  again. 

Wheatland,  Wyoming  Leora  Peters 


BOOK   REVIEWS  113 

The  Far  Western  Frontier  1830-1860.  By  Ray  Allen  Billington. 
(New  York:  Harper  &  Brothers,  1956.  292  pp.  Illus. 
$5.00) 

This  volume  is  part  of  the  New  American  Nation  Series  of 
40-odd  volumes  being  published  under  the  general  editorship  of 
H.  S.  Commager  and  Richard  B.  Morris. 

Billington  is  a  Northwestern  University  professor  of  history 
whose  best  known  previous  publication  is  an  800-page  volume, 
Westward  Expansion,  which  is  sometimes  used  as  a  textbook  in 
westward  movement  courses. 

If  the  other  volumes  in  the  New  American  Nation  Series  turn 
out  to  be  as  good  as  this  one,  the  set  may  quickly  relegate  ths  old, 
28-volume  American  Nation  Series  to  the  dead  storage  shelves  of 
our  libraries.  A.  B.  Hart  edited  the  original  series  some  fifty 
years  ago.  There  has  been  much  clarification  of  our  history  in 
the  interim,  and  a  marked  shift  from  major  emphasis  on  political 
history  to  a  balanced  treatment  of  political,  economic,  social  and 
intellectual  developments. 

Covering  the  West  1830-1860  in  less  than  300  pages  requires 
ruthless  condensation  and  omission.  In  this  part  of  the  West, 
for  example,  Billington  omits  mention  of  such  more  or  less  impor- 
tant items  as  Father  De  Smet  and  his  work,  Francis  Parkman's 
1846  visit,  the  Grattan  Massacre,  the  Sioux  Indians,  the  battle  of 
Ash  Hollow,  Chief  Washakie  and  his  Shoshoni  Indians,  the  Ft. 
Laramie  Treaty  Council  of  1851,  Capt.  William  F.  Raynolds, 
Capt.  Howard  Stansbury,  Capt.  Randolph  B.  Marcy,  and  F.  W. 
Lander  and  his  Lander  Road.  To  be  sure,  some  of  these  may 
show  up  in  overlapping  volumes  in  the  series,  though  one  might 
expect  them  to  be  mentioned  in  a  book  with  this  title. 

BiUington  focuses  attention  on  twelve  main  themes,  such  as 
"The  Overland  Trails"  and  "Manifest  Destiny."  He  handles  the 
twelve  themes  clearly  and  entertainingly.  He  ventures  no  really 
new  interpretations,  but  effectively  summarizes  the  best  of  the 
vast  literature  on  the  special  topics  to  which  he  addresses  himself. 
Footnotes  on  almost  every  page  and  a  19-page  bibliographical 
essay  serve  to  tie  down  his  narrative. 

The  editors  state  that  Billington  employs  "scientific  objectivity 
and  critical  acumen"  in  dealing  with  the  history  of  the  West,  which, 
they  say,  "is,  peculiarly,  the  happy  hunting  ground  of  the  romanc- 
ers and  the  myth-makers."  Certainly  Billington  does  have  the 
total  pattern  of  American  History  well  in  mind,  and  he  keeps 
western  developments  in  perspective. 

The  use  of  striking  detail  enlivens  the  narrative.  In  dealing  with 
the  mountain  men,  for  example,  he  tells  how  they  scalped  their 
enemies:  'Taking  firm  hold  of  the  scalp  with  the  left  hand,  they 
made  two  semicircular  incisions  with  and  against  the  sun,  loosened 
the  skin  with  the  point  of  a  knife,  and  pulled  with  their  feet  against 


114  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

the  dead  man's  shoulders  until  the  scalp  came  loose  with  a  char- 
acteristic "plop."  '  The  mountain  men,  he  says,  at  mealtime  pre- 
ferred buffalo  chips  to  wood  "because  of  the  peppery  flavor  im- 
parted to  the  meat."  And  at  the  rendezvous  they  "indulged  in 
sexual  orgies  with  passively  indifferent  Indian  maidens." 

Again,  when  dealing  with  the  mining  frontier,  he  quotes  an 
explanation  for  the  origin  of  the  name  "tarantula  juice"  whisky: 
"When  the  boys  were  well  charged  ...  it  made  the  snakes  and 
tarantulas  that  bit  them  very  sick." 

Laramie,  Wyo.  T.  A.  Larson 


Before  Barbed  Wire.  By  Mark  H.  Brown  and  W.  R.  Felton. 
(New  York:  Henry  Holt  and  Co.,  1956.  254  pp.  Illus. 
$10.00.) 

L.  A.  Huffman  came  to  Montana  in  1878  to  apply  for  the 
unpaid  civilian  position  of  photographer  at  old  Ft.  Keogh,  Mon- 
tana Territory.  Once  he  had  secured  the  position  and  gained 
permission  to  use  a  rough  building  at  the  post,  he  bought  his 
predecessor's  equipment  and  set  up  shop. 

Huffman  immediately  started  recording  in  pictures  the  story  of 
the  Indian,  the  hide  hunters,  soldiers,  scouts,  bull  whackers  and 
jerkline  teamsters.  These  pictures  form  the  pictorial  background 
of  the  book  The  Frontier  Years,  published  by  authors  Brown  and 
Felton  in  1955. 

Huffman's  difficulties  were  many  in  these  early  days,  for  the 
camera  he  used  was  large  and  bulky  and  it  was  necessary  to  use 
wet  plates  which  had  to  be  coated  and  sensitized  before  using  and 
developed  before  the  sensitized  material  dried.  In  1885  he  began 
using  a  dry  plate,  thus  eliminating  some  problems;  but  the  "Instan- 
taneous" film  was  slow  and  the  camera  weighed  nearly  fifty 
pounds.  The  excellence  of  his  pictures,  however,  illustrates  the 
excellence  of  the  photographer,  for  in  spite  of  many  handicaps 
Huffman  captured  with  his  lens  the  spirit  of  the  time  and  the  way 
of  life  of  the  frontier  West. 

Before  Barbed  Wire  takes  up  the  story  of  the  frontier  with  the 
passing  of  the  first  stage  of  change — the  disappearance  of  the 
buffalo,  the  setting  up  of  Indian  reservations  and  the  coming  of 
the  permanent  settlers  and  the  cattle  herds. 

Huffman  was  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  big  open  country, 
and  he  chronicled  with  lens  and  a  descriptive  pen  the  day-by-day 
life  of  the  people  who  were  settling  the  new  land.  This  book  is 
the  story  of  the  open  range  and  the  life  of  the  ranchman  and  the 
cowboy.  The  book  is  illustrated  with  124  Huffman  photographs, 
which  are  supplemented  by  his  own  descriptive  notes;  they  include 


BOOK  REVIEWS  115 

the  cowboy  at  work  and  play,  early  ranches,  roundup  scenes  and 
the  story  of  sheep  in  early  Montana.  > 

Authors  Brown  and  Felton  have  accompanied  the  pictures  with 
an  excellent  narrative  describing  the  social  and  economic  life  of 
the  era.  Glimpses  of  Montana  history  are  given,  including  a 
tantalizing  section  entitled  "The  Stranglers,"  hinting  at  the  sup- 
pressed story  of  the  struggle  between  the  cattlemen  and  the  rustler 
element.  The  vigilante  cattlemen  won  this  battle  by  reportedly 
hanging  or  shooting  sixty-three  men  over  a  period  of  several  years. 
The  later  unsuccessful  raid  of  Johnson  County,  Wyoming,  by  the 
Wyoming  cattlemen  in  1892  was  probably  patterned  after  the 
earlier  Montana  "cleanup." 

Huffman's  notes  on  his  pictures  and  the  authors'  footnotes  are 
both  to  be  found  in  supplementary  sections  at  the  end  of  the  book. 
If  a  criticism  is  to  be  made,  this  reviewer  found  it  disconcerting 
to  be  constantly  turning  to  the  back  of  the  book  to  these  notes. 

Students  of  the  western  range  cattle  history  will  find  an  excellent 
bibliography  in  the  book  and  the  reader  will  find  the  attractive 
end  maps  of  Montana  Territory  and  northern  Wyoming  Territory 
helpful. 

Cheyenne,  Wyoming  Henryetta  Berry 


Feud  on   the  Colorado  by  Arthur  Woodward.      (Los  Angeles: 
Westernlore  Press,  1955.     165p.     $4.75) 

"Since  the  1 6th  century  to  the  presen  tday  men  have  risked  their 
lives  attempting  to  ferret  out  the  secrets  in  the  roily  reaches  of  the 
Colorado  river."  Yet  the  most  fascinating  period  in  the  struggle 
with  nature  is  the  adventure  of  the  steam  vessels  of  the  1850's 
and  the  desire  of  the  captains  to  gain  wealth  by  carrying  pay 
cargoes  up  the  river. 

Feud  on  the  Colorado  records  this  struggle  with  nature  and  the 
men  who  lived  and  fought  for  the  riches  that  went  with  adventure 
and  boldness.  John  Glanton  was  only  one  of  the  desperate  char- 
acters who,  having  killed  in  Texas,  decided  to  make  a  fortune 
ferrying  immigrants  and  what  have  you  across  the  river  for  ex- 
tortionate prices.  In  1850  he  and  a  group  of  his  followers  met 
their  end  at  the  hands  of  the  Yumas.  Such  a  lucrative  business 
did  not  go  wanting  for  successors  even  though  chances  of  being 
ambushed  by  Indians  could  not  be  ignored. 

Into  such  a  surrounding  came  George  Alonzo  Johnson,  a  young 
New  Yorker,  seeking  his  share  of  the  West's  gold.  Through  a 
chance  item  in  a  Los  Angeles  paper  he  learned  about  the  Glanton 
massacre,  thus  whetting  his  interest  in  becoming  a  Colorado  ferry 
captain.  In  a  few  years  Johnson  and  his  boat.  Uncle  Sam,  became 
familiar  sights  on  the  river. 


116  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Into  such  a  scene  also  arrived  a  young,  ambitious  officer  Lt. 
Joseph  C.  Ives  and  his  orders  from  the  government  "to  explore 
the  upper  reaches  of  the  Colorado  by  steam".  The  plot  thickens 
for  Johnson  also  wanted  such  a  disposition.  Both  men  set  out  to 
be  the  first,  thus  for  years  a  bitter  controversy  has  been  waged, 
for  Ives  claimed  that  he,  with  his  little  government  steamboat. 
Explorer,  was  first  up  the  river,  refuting  Johnson's  argument  that 
he  and  his  General  Jesup  preceded  Ives  upstream  by  a  comfortable 
margin  of  two  months. 

Through  Arthur  Woodward's  research  into  the  controversy,  the 
matter  has  been  settled,  for  the  long  buried  and  forgotten  report 
of  Lt.  J.  L.  White  and  party,  who  rode  the  General  Jesup  on  its 
eventful  voyage  is  brought  to  light.  The  White  Report  establishes 
the  Johnson  claim  beyond  doubt,  thus  closing  another  chapter  in 
the  story  of  the  Colorado.  Woodward's  treatment  of  Ives  makes 
him  a  rather  despicable  individual  who  through  influential  relations 
kept  the  White  Report  from  becoming  public.  Of  the  three — 
Ives,  White  and  Johnson — only  the  latter  lived  to  an  advanced  age 
with  considerable  security. 

Woodward  includes  a  vivid  picture  of  the  life  and  hardships 
at  Fort  Yuma — an  outpost  harassed  by  Indians,  the  shortage  of 
food  and  A.W.O.L.  soldiers.  He  captures  a  lost  era  presenting 
an  exciting  and  delightful  scene  of  a  river — its  steamboats,  military 
life  and  savage  Indians. 

Fargo,  N.  D.  Albert  G.  Anderson,  Jr. 


When  Grass  Was  King.  By  Maurice  Frink,  W.  Turrentine  Jack- 
son and  Agnes  Wright  Spring.  (Boulder:  University  of 
Colorado  Press,  1956.     465  pp.     Illus.     $8.50.) 

In  1944  the  Western  Range  Cattle  Industry  Study,  financed  by 
a  Rockefeller  Foundation  Grant,  was  initiated  to  conduct  a  con- 
centrated study  of  the  cattle  indusrty  in  the  western  states,  prin- 
cipally New  Mexico,  Colorado,  Wyoming  and  Montana,  for  the 
period  1865-1895.  A  great  bulk  of  records  including  manuscripts, 
correspondence,  documents,  diaries,  company  reports  and  other 
business  papers,  photographs,  books,  periodicals,  pamphlets,  and 
newspaper  articles  was  collected.  These  materials  are  located  at 
the  State  Historical  Society  of  Colorado  where  they  are  now 
available  to  researchers,  students  and  writers. 

Mr.  Frink  has  served  as  director  of  the  Cattle  Study  since  June 
1954  and  at  the  same  time  as  executive  director  of  the  State  His- 
torical Society  of  Colorado.  As  head  of  the  Study  his  task  has 
been  to  organize  and  catalog  the  collected  records  and  to  prepare 
a  one-volume  discussion  of  the  cattle  study.  When  Grass  Was 
King  is  the  result  of  this  assignment. 


BOOK   REVIEWS  117 

Since  only  eighteen  months  were  allotted  for  the  writing  of  this 
work,  Mr.  Frink  obtained  the  assistance  of  W.  Turrentine  Jackson, 
professor  of  history  at  the  University  of  California  at  Davis,  and 
Mrs.  Agnes  Wright  Spring,  State  Historian  of  Colorado,  each  of 
whom  have  authored  sections  of  the  Study. 

This  book  is  divided  into  three  parts.  Mr.  Frink,  in  Part  I, 
ably  covers  the  background  story  of  the  days  of  the  open  range 
from  its  beginning  to  its  end.  In  a  chronological  account  he  relates 
the  status  of  the  industry  and  the  main  developments  which  took 
place  each  year  from  1865  to  1895. 

Part  11  is  devoted  to  an  account  of  British  and  Scotch  invest- 
ments in  the  western  livestock  business.  Dr.  Jackson  discusses  in 
great  detail  the  causes  of  the  rise  and  the  decline  of  foreign  invest- 
ments and  the  resultant  effects.  In  addition  to  the  records  collect- 
ed by  the  Cattle  Study,  Dr.  Jackson  was  able  to  study  records  in 
England  and  Scotland  while  a  Fulbright  professor  of  history  at  the 
University  of  Glasgow. 

Mrs.  Spring,  a  well  known  historian  of  both  Colorado  and  Wyo- 
ming and  author  of  a  number  of  books  on  Wyoming  in  particular, 
has  authored  Part  III  of  this  Study,  the  biography  of  John  W.  Iliff. 
Iliff  was  one  of  the  first  "comers"  to  the  open  range  and  developed 
in  southern  Wyoming  and  northern  Colorado  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  successful  cattle  outfits  of  the  1  870's. 

In  1865  he  left  Ohio  with  $500.00  and  within  twenty  years 
through  hard  work,  good  judgment  and  tenacity  he  built  this  into 
a  fortune.  His  story  was  proof  that  there  was  money  to  be  made 
in  the  cattle  business  and  offered  a  practical  inducement  which 
funneled  eastern  and  foreign  capital  into  the  western  industry. 

Thirty-five  rare  old  photographs  illustrate  the  volume,  and  end 
maps  of  the  western  plains  and  Rocky  Mountain  states  showing 
the  main  landmarks,  the  railroads  and  trails  are  of  assistance  to 
the  reader.  Of  particular  help  to  researchers  and  students  will  be 
the  fine  bibliographies  which  each  of  the  authors  have  included. 
Publication  is  a  limited  edition  of  1 500  copies. 

Cheyenne  Lola  M.  Homsher 


Salt  Creek,  The  Story  of  a  Great  Oil  Field.  By  Harold  D.  Roberts 
(Denver:  W.  H.  Kistler  Stationery  Co.,  1956.  213  pp. 
Illus.     $5.50.) 

Salt  Creek  is  indeed,  as  the  author  states,  the  story  of  a  great 
oil  field.  Nearly  400,000,000  barrels  of  crude  oil  have  come  from 
the  wells  of  Salt  Creek,  and  it  is  still  a  producing  field  with  many 
years  of  production  remaining.  Historically  this  oil  field  had  an 
important  effect  upon  the  growth  of  the  State  of  Wyoming  and 
particularly  the  growth  of  the  Casper  area.    The  rugged  history  of 


118  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

this  fi3ld  is  indeed  a  saga  of  one  important  aspect  of  Wyoming's 
economy.  No  other  area  can  equal  nor  exceed  in  the  number  of 
rugged  individuaHsts  who  developed  this  Salt  Creek  field.  Not 
only  is  it  a  story  of  these  examples  of  individualism  but  of  the 
obstacles  that  confront  the  individualist. 

Technically  the  research  that  went  into  this  book  was  obviously 
of  considerable  quantity  and  is  reflected  in  the  quality  of  the 
narrative.  This  quality  bears  adequate  testimony  to  the  careful 
ascertaining  of  minute  details  by  the  author  and  indicates  an 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  subject  and  more  particularly  of  the 
real  life  characters  he  so  wonderfully  portrays  with  word  pictures 
that  show  the  complete  charm  of  the  individuals  and  the  manners 
of  the  times.  A  clear  concise  narrative  is  drawn  of  the  complex 
operations  in  the  history  of  the  Salt  Creek  field.  As  the  author 
mentions  "a  great  variety  of  people  from  sober  economists  to 
wild-eyed  fanatics"  complicated  the  history  related  both  on  a  local 
basis  and  on  the  national  level  when,  under  the  administration  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  Congress  became  concerned  with  "conserva- 
tion'" and  their. actions  so  completely  effected  this  Wyoming  area. 
Every  acre  of -unpatented  land  was  withdrawn.  This  "bombshell 
of  a  major  size"  led  to  still  further  complications  of  "discord, 
confusion  and  uncertainty".  From  a  simple  beginning  in  the  days 
when  the  Indians  utilized  the  oil  seeps  for  ointments  and  paints, 
through  the  period  of  promotion,  discord  and  violence,  the  author 
skillfully  relates  his  story  of  a  frontier  as  wild  and  wooly  as  any 
frontier  in  history.  The  progress,  profits  and  the  steps  towards 
peace  are  equally  well  handled  and  the  history  then  becomes  that 
of  the  field's  development,  with  its  technical  problems  and  its 
lengthy  litigations. 

"Since  its  instigation  16  years  ago  (referring  to  unitization),  the 
story  belongs  in  engineering  reports",  the  author  relates,  and  "of 
these  problems  there  is  no  end  and  their  magnitude  is  a  challenge 
to  anyone." 

Although  not  a  publication  of  great  general  interest,  it  is  a 
valuable  book  for  those  interested  in  the  developmental  history  of 
Wyoming  and  for  those  particularly  interested  in  oil  exploration. 
It  is  more  importantly  a  particular  history  of  a  part  of  the  opera- 
tions of  Standard  Oil  of  Indiana  and  its  wholly  owned  subsidiary, 
Stanolind  Oil  and  Gas  Company.  The  incidents  narrated  within 
this  book  are  extremely  fascinating  from  the  standpoint  of  histor- 
ical significance  as  well  as  from  the  standpoint  of  personality 
characterizations  drawn  by  the  author.  As  an  underlying  narra- 
tion to  the  history  of  this  great  oil  field  is  the  story  of  the  life  and 
times  of  central  Wyoming. 

Regarding  the  author,  Harold  D.  Roberts,  his  personal  knowl- 
edge of  many  of  the  individuals  concerned  gives  great  additional 
weight  to  his  characterizations  and  results  in  many  apt  descriptions 
of  various  individuals.     Mr.  Roberts  died  within  hours  after  the 


BOOK   REVIEWS  119 

final  proof  went  to  the  printers.  Had  this  undertaking  been  de- 
layed the  material  contained  herein  "would  have  been  lost  with 
the  passage  of  time  and  men".  The  book  is  a  fitting  memorial  to 
a  fine  lawyer,  historian,  naturalist  and  public  servant. 

The  author  himself  provided  an  excellent  book  review  in  just  a 
few  lines. 

"The  pioneers  of  Salt  Creek  came  from  many  different  walks  of 
life,  drawn  by  chance  or  unflagging  purpose.  It  was  in  their  hands 
that  Salt  Creek  gained  recognition  as  a  great  oil  field. 

"If  this  book  can  reclaim  a  few  of  that  motley  crew  from  oblivion 
and  show  them  in  the  setting  of  the  problems  with  which  they  strug- 
gled, it  will  have  served  its  purpose." 

There  can  only  be  added  these  words it  was  a  good  job  well 

done,  for  the  author  did  accomplish  what  he  sought  to  do.  Would 
every  author  be  as  successful. 

I  recommend  its  reading  as  a  sound  commentary  on  a  saga  of 
one  of  Wyoming's  great  industries. 

Cheyenne,  Wyoming  Bob  Steiling 


The  Running  Iron.    By  Rachel  Ann  Fish.     (New  York:  Coward- 
McCann,  Inc.  1956.     380  pp.     $3.95.) 

The  novel  opens  under  a  cloud  of  dust  on  the  trail  out  of  Texas 
to  Abeline.  Under  the  dust  are  the  longhorns,  the  leather  skinned 
cowboys,  Robert  Forge,  Confederate  colonel,  and  his  fatihful 
Negro,  Rock.  Holly  Morgan  is  there  too,  and  makes  her  status 
clear  when  she  says,  'T  ain't  a  fancy." 

Mrs.  Fish  then  takes  her  story  to  the  South  and  the  last  shot 
of  the  Civil  war;  to  the  home  of  Colonel  Forge,  the  central  figure, 
and  his  pampered  wife,  Fonella,  and  their  family.  The  author's 
portrayal  of  America's  major  crisis  is  skillfully  handled.  She  has 
smoothly  worked  the  significant  details  of  the  times  into  her  story. 
The  principal  characters  are  distinctive,  and  seem  to  live  and 
breathe.  She  moves  into  their  minds,  and  into  the  minds  of  the 
secondary  characters,  with  the  ease  of  a  clairvoyant.  The  inter- 
lude between  the  war's  end  and  the  Colonel's  home-coming  builds 
the  crisis  of  the  tale. 

The  story  shifts  to  the  Wyoming  home  ranch  on  the  Chugwater, 
the  next  setting  for  the  Colonel  and  his  family.  One  of  his  sons, 
a  secondary  personality,  kicks  over  the  traces.  Holly  Morgan 
marries  and  is  there  too.  Mrs.  Fish  vividly  portrays  the  Chugwater 
valleys:  ".  .  .  and  in  summer  cloudbursts  can  make  the  Chugwater 
a  rolling  muddy  river  .  .  .  destructive  .  .  ."  "In  the  spring  the 
water  feels  the  soft  breast  feathers  of  the  Mallards,  Canvas- 
backs  .  .  ."  "On  either  side  of  the  creek  are  rolling  hills  .  .  ." 
She  covers  the  history  of  the  earlier  West  briefly,  and  in  the  rich 


120  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

cadence  of  a  poem  shows  the  suffering  of  the  Indian  soul,  and  the 
pride  of  the  victors,  or  settlers. 

Colonel  Forge  becomes  a  cattle  baron.  He  builds  an  elegant 
town  house  for  Fonella  who  now  recovers  from  self  pity  and 
spitefully  bears  him  a  son.  The  Colonel's  love  for  his  youngest 
is  pitted  against  his  lifelong  ambition  for  a  political  career.  The 
"Running  Iron,"  of  course,  is  used  by  the  cattle  rustlers  who  with 
the  influx  of  the  small  farmer  cause  the  Colonel's  crown  of  success 
to  become  a  torture. 

Chevenne  Alice  M.  Shields 


Contributors 


Mrs.  Thelma  Condit,  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  T.  J.  Gatchell, 
is  a  native  of  Wyoming.  She  has  lived  in  the  Hole-in-the-Wall 
country  for  21  years  and  her  husband,  Clark  H.  Condit,  has  lived 
there  nearly  all  his  life.  Mrs.  Condit  taught  school  for  15  years 
in  the  Barnum,  Kaycee,  Sussex  and  Mayoworth  communities. 
For  a  number  of  years  she  has  collected  the  history  of  Johnson 
County  and  the  Hole-in-the-Wall  country.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Condit 
are  the  parents  of  three  children:  James  G.  Condit  of  Kaycee, 
Richard  H.  Condit  of  Buffalo,  and  Carolyn  Knapp  (Mrs.  David). 

Kenneth  E.  Crouch  is  a  staff  member  on  the  Bedford  (Vir- 
ginia) Democrat,  a  position  he  has  held  since  1944.  He  is  the 
author  or  several  historical  articles  relating  to  Bedford,  the  Thur- 
man  family  and  the  history  of  the  Palestine  and  Peck's  Baptist 
Churches  in  Bedford  County,  Virginia. 

Dale  L.  Morgan,  prominent  western  historian  and  author,  was 
born  in  Salt  Lake  City  and  is  a  graduate  of  the  University  of 
Utah.  Mr.  Morgan  served  on  the  staff  of  the  Department  of 
Information  of  the  OPA  from  1942-46.  In  1948  he  became  acting 
editor  of  the  Utah  Historical  Quarterly.  More  recently  he  was 
Acting  Archivist  of  the  Utah  State  Historical  Society,  1953,  and 
since  1954  has  been  on  the  Bancroft  Library  staff.  Since  1953 
he  has  also  been  a  specialist  in  Indian  Claims  research. 

Mr.  Morgan  has  written  a  number  of  books,  the  first  of  which 
were  The  Humboldt:  Highroad  of  the  West  (1943)  and  The  Great 
Salt  Lake  (1947).  More  recent  publications  are  Life  in  America: 
The  West  (1952),  a  juvenile  geography;  Jedediah  Smith  and  the 
Opening  of  the  West  ( 1953 ) ;  Jedediah  Smith  and  His  Maps  of  the 
American    West,   in  collaboration   with   Carl   I.   Wheat    (1954); 


CONTRIBUTORS  121 

Pioneer  Atlas  of  the  American  West  (1956);  and  he  is  currently 
working  on  The  West  of  William  H.  Ashley,  a  book  of  documents, 
which  is  to  appear  later  in  1957. 

Louis  C.  Steege,  a  native  of  Burns,  Wyoming,  and  a  resident 
of  Cheyenne,  is  a  postal  transport  clerk,  a  position  he  has  held 
since  June  1941.  He  has  been  a  student  of  archaeology  for  a 
number  of  years  and  is  a  member  of  the  Society  for  American 
Archaeology,  the  Loveland  Chapter  of  the  Colorado  Archaeologi- 
cal Society,  and  was  appointed  the  Archaeologist  of  the  Wyoming 
State  Historical  Society  in  1956  and  reappointed  in  1957.  He  is 
past  president  of  the  Laramie  County  Chapter  of  the  Wyoming 
State  Historical  Society.  He  served  as  chairman  of  the  Archaeo- 
logical Committee  for  the  State  Society  in  1955-56  and  worked 
with  other  groups  to  have  the  Frontier  Creek  petrified  forest  area 
in  Wyoming  preserved.  Mr.  Steege  gives  volunteer  service  to 
the  Wyoming  State  Museum  and  has  cataloged  much  of  the 
Indian  artifact  collection  in  the  museum  and  assisted  with  setting 
up  some  of  the  displays.  In  1939  he  was  married  to  Berenice  J. 
Merrick  and  they  are  the  parents  of  three  children.  Sherry  Lou, 
Janice  Elaine  and  Tommy  Dale. 

Virginia  Cole  Trenholm  is  a  native  Missourian,  with  B.  J. 
and  M.  A.  degrees  from  the  School  of  Journalism,  University  of 
Missouri.  She  began  her  teaching  career  as  Instructor  in  English 
and  Journalism  and  Director  of  Publicity  at  Stephens  College. 
She  also  served  as  a  member  of  the  English  Deparmtent  at  Park 
College  before  coming  to  Wyoming  to  make  her  home. 

Now  the  wife  of  Robert  S.  Trenholm,  a  native  son,  she  does 
free  lance  writing  as  a  hobby.  She  is  the  author  of  Footprints 
on  the  Frontier  and  co-author,  with  Maurine  Carley,  of  Wyoming 
Pageant.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Trenholm,  who  reside  on  a  ranch  near 
Glendo,  are  the  parents  of  two  children,  James  R.  and  Mrs.  Vir- 
ginia Phillippi,  of  Bordeaux. 

Clarice  Whittenburg  was  born  at  Marshfield,  Missouri,  and 
came  to  Wyoming  in  1930,  at  which  time  she  became  a  member 
of  the  faculty  at  the  University  of  Wyoming  where  she  now  holds 
the  position  of  Professor  of  Elementary  Education  in  the  College 
of  Education.  She  holds  a  degree  of  B.  S.  in  Education  from 
Central  Missouri  State  College  and  an  M.  A.  from  the  University 
of  Chicago. 


iA^mls  of  Wyommg 


JME  29 


OCTOBER  1957 


NUMBER  2 


Official  Publication 

of  the 

WYOMING  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


Published  Biannually 
by 
E  WYOMING  STATE  ARCHIVES  AND  HISTORICAL  DEPARTMENT 
CHEYENNE,  WYOMING 


f. 


WYOMING  STATE  LIBRARY  ARCHIVES  AND 
HISTORICAL  BOARD 

Fred  W.  Marble,  Chairman Cheyenne 

Mr.  James  Bentlby Sheridan 

Mr.  Henry  Jones  Hanna 

Mrs.  Lora  Jewett Pinedale 

Mrs.  Esther  Mockler  Dubois 

Mrs.  Leora  Peters  Wheatland 

Mrs.  Margaret  E.  Hall  Moorcroft 

Mrs.  Lorraine  Stadius Thermopolis 

Attorney-General  Thomas  O.  Miller,  Ex-officio 

WYOMING  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

President,  Dr.  T.  A.  Larson  JLaramie 

First  Vice  President,  A.  H.  MacDougall Rawlins 

Second  Vice  President,  Mrs,  Thelma  Condit Kaycee 

Secretary-Treasurer,  Miss  Maurine  Carley  Cheyenne 

Executive  Secretary,  Miss  Lola  M.  Homsher Cheyenne 

Wyoming  State  Historical  Society  life  membership  $50.00,  joint  life 

membership   (husband  and  wife)    $75.00;  annual  membership,   $3.50, 

joint  annual  membership  (two  persons  of  same  family  at  same 

address)  $5.00. 


THE  WYOMING  STATE  ARCHIVES  AND  HISTORICAL 
DEPARTMENT 
STATE  OFFICE  BUILDING  —  CHEYENNE 
STAFF 

Lola  M.  Homsher Director 

Henryetta  Berry  Deputy 

Reta  W.  Ridings  Head,  Research  Services 

Mrs.  Lillian  V.  Stratton Secretary 

Lewis  K.  Demand Assistant  Archivist 

ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Lola  M.  Homsher Editor 

Reta  W.  Ridings Co-editor 

The  Annals  of  Wyoming  is  published  semi-annually,  in  April  and 
October,  and  is  the  official  publication  of  the  Wyoming  State  Historical 
Society.  It  is  received  by  all  members  of  that  Society  as  a  part  of  their 
dues.  Individual  copies  of  the  current  issues  of  the  Annals  of  Wyoming 
may  be  purchased  for  $1.00  each.  Available  copies  of  earlier  issues  are 
also  for  sale.    A  price  list  may  be  obtained  by  writing  to  the  Editor. 

Communications  should  be  addressed  to  the  Editor.  The  Editor  will 
not  assume  responsibility  for  statements  of  fact  or  of  opinion  made  by 
contributors. 

o 

Copyright,  1957,  by  the  Wyoming  State  Archives  and  Historical 
Department. 


Ama/s  of  Wyoming 

Volume  29  October  1957  Number  2 


Zable  of  Contents 


THE  INDIANS  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK  125 

Ake  Hultkrantz 

OVER  MY  SHOULDER  151 

Charles  A.  Myers  and  Mrs.  Marion  Paschal 

OLD  WYOMING  POSTOFFICES  157 

Colonel  Norman  D.  King 

THE  HOLE-IN-THE-WALL,  Part  V,  Section  1  161 

Thelma  Gatchell  Condit 

OREGON  TRAIL  TREK  NO.  FIVE  177 

Compiled  by  Maurine  Carley 

WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI,  Part  IX 195 

Dale  L.  Morgan,  Editor 

WYOMING  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  NOTES 229 

WYOMING  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  .._ 230 

BOOK  REVIEWS 

Whetstone,  Frontier  Editor  232 

Lamar,  Dakota  Territory 233 

Sprague,   Massacre   234 

Aberle  and  Stewart,  Navajo  and  Ute  Peyotism  236 

Hayden,  From  Trapper  to  Tourist  in  Jackson  Hole  237 

Manfred,  Riders  of  Judgment  237 

Sandoz,  The  Horsecatcher  ;... 238 

CONTRIBUTORS 240 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Indians  in  Yellowstone  Park 124,  130,  136 

Over  My  Shoulder  150 

The  Hole  in  the  Wall 160,  166,  172 

Oregon  Trail  Trek  No.  5  178,  182,  186 

Washakie  and  the  Shoshoni  214 

Stone  Artifacts   228 

Maps:  Hole  in  the  Wall 162 

Oregon  Trail  Trek  No.  5  176 

Indian  Tribes,  by  Doty  199 

INDEX    242 


Lower  Falls  of  the  Yellowstone,  January   1887 
Photo  by  F.  Jay  Hayncs,  Courtesy  of  Jack  Ellis  Haynes 


Zhe  Mians  in  yellowstonc  Park  * 

By 

Ake  Hultkrantz 

YELLOWSTONE  PARK— AN  INDIAN  TERRITORY 

Comparatively  late  the  wonderland  at  the  source  of  Yellowstone 
River  was  taken  into  possession  by  white  men.  The  explanation 
is  probably  partly  its  protected  position  between  such  high  moun- 
tain ranges  as  the  Absaroka  and  Gallatin  as  well  as  its  inaccessible 
passes  and  severe  climate,  and  partly  insufficient  information  from 
the  Indians  about  the  geological  uniqueness  of  the  region.  Prob- 
ably the  first  white  man  to  have  seen  the  future  national  park  was 
John  Colter  ( 1 807 ) ,  a  previous  member  of  the  famous  exploring 
expedition  led  by  Lewis  and  Clark.  Intermittently  from  the 
1820's  occasional  trappers  and  traders  stayed  in  the  park,  and 
amongst  them  the  well-known  trapper  and  scout,  Jim  Bridger. 
At  this  time,  those  visits  were  in  all  likelihood  combined  with  the 
exploitations  of  the  beaver  trappers  in  western  Wyoming,  and 
with  the  prevalent  "rendez-vous"  in  the  valley  of  Green  River.  In 
the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  Yellowstone  plateau  was  trav- 
ersed by  a  few  missionaries,  soldiers  and  scientists.  But  the  first 
official  discovery  of  the  region  is  attributed  to  General  Henry 
Washburn  and  his  expedition  of  Montana  residents  in  1870.^ 
Shortly  afterwards,  in  1872,  Congress  established  the  first  national 
park  of  the  United  States,  Yellowstone  National  Park.  From  that 
time  on,  the  hidden  land  of  the  geysers  has  constituted  an  eldorado 
for  tourists  from  all  over  the  world. 

But  for  those  Indians  living  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  no  vital 
discovery  had  been  made.  For  generations  and  centuries  the 
Indians  undoubtedly  had  traversed  the  park.  The  first  white  men 
already  had  Indian  guides  and  wandered  on  more  or  less  trodden 
Indian  paths.  The  name  Yellowstone  is  of  Indian  origin.  The 
Indian  tribes  moving  about  in  the  Yellowstone  River  area  named 
the  river  Rock  Yellow  River  after  its  colorful  walls  in  its  upper 
canyon  flow,  a  name  which  in  the  language  of  the  French  beaver 
hunters  was  Roche  Juane  or  Pierre  Jaune.  David  Thompson,  in 
1798,  wrote  Yellow  Stone,  and  this  English  term  was  adopted  in 


*  This  is  a  preliminary  and  introductory  survey.  More  detailed  accounts 
will  be  published  in  the  future.  This  article  was  translated  from  Swedish 
by  Astrid  Liljeblad.  It  originally  appeared  in  the  Swedish  Journal  YMER 
1954,  No.  2,  pp.  112-140  including  a  two  page  summary  in  English. 


126  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

the  report  of  Lewis  and  Clark  and  subsequently  got  into  common 
usage. - 

Though  it  has  been  evident  to  the  American  scientists  ever  since 
the  first  discoveries,  that  Yellowstone  Park  consists  of  old  Indian 
territory,  the  region  has  for  a  long  time  been  a  terra  incognita 
from  an  ethnographical  viewpoint.  The  reasons  appear  to  have 
been  the  following:  First,  the  traces  of  Indian  settlements  seem 
comparatively  few.  With  regard  to  the  old  Shoshone  inhabitants 
in  the  park,  Superintendent  Norris  writes  that  they  "left  fewer 
enduring  evidences  of  their  occupancy  [of  the  park]  than  the 
beaver,  badger  and  other  animals  on  which  they  subsisted."^ 
Second,  ever  since  their  removal  from  the  park  in  the  1870's, 
these  Shoshones  have  been  mixed  with  other  Shoshones  in  Idaho 
and  Wyoming,  and  since  then  the  anthropologists  have  not  felt 
able  to  identify  their  culture.^  Third,  the  historically  better  known 
and  famous  Plains  Indians  in  the  neighborhood  only  occasionally 
visited  the  park.  The  history  of  the  National  Park  certainly  tells 
about  Indian  guerilla  bands  now  and  again  fighting  each  other 
or  molesting  the  white  pioneers.  But  these  Indians  usually  came 
from  areas  outside  the  Park:  they  had  their  main  camps  in  the 
valleys  intersecting  the  surrounding  plateaus.  The  encroachment 
on  the  Yellowstone  basin  has  been  of  transitory  nature. 

It  is,  however,  possible  to  gain  a  relatively  complete  picture  of 
the  cultural  history  of  the  Indians  in  Yellowstone  Park  by  thorough 
search  of  different  documents,  by  ploughing  through  the  ethno- 
graphic and  archaeologic  literature,  by  comparative  studies  and 
by  direct  field  research.  The  author  has  tried  to  follow  this 
outline,  and  in  the  following  is  a  presentation  of  the  general  results 
of  his  research.  It  is  his  intention  to  show  what  part  Yellowstone 
Park  played  to  the  Indians  up  to  the  time  immediately  after  the 
act  of  establishing  the  National  Park,  that  is,  up  to  the  time  ending 
the  national  independence  of  the  Indians.  We  shall  find  that  the 
park  contains  many  old  Indian  traditions,  and  that  still  at  the  end 
of  the  last  century  the  park  in  different  ways  remained  a  resort 
for  Indian  groups  of  people:  partly  it  functioned  as  a  hunting 
ground  and  outlying  area  for  a  number  of  tribes,  who  then  lived 
there  periodically;  partly  it  constituted  the  main  territory  for  a 
hitherto  little  known,  but  very  interesting  group  of  definitely 
mountain  Indians.  Lastly,  there  is  also  an  exposition  of  the  raids 
of  the  Nez  Perce  Indians  in  the  park  in  1877.'' 

THE   CULTURAL— GEOGRAPHIC    PREMISES: 
ECOLOGICAL  POINTS  OF  VIEW 

The  Indian's  cultural  history  within  the  Park  is  more  under- 
standable if  the  character  of  the  geographical  environment  is 
taken  into  consideration.*' 

As  is  well-known,  Yellowstone  Park  is  a  high  plateau  with  an 


THE  INDIANS  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK  127 

average  altitude  of  2500  meters  (8,125  feet)  above  sea  level.  It 
consists  of  extensive  lava  flows  of  ryolite  and  basalt,  in  the  east 
superseded  by  volcanic  tuffs  of  breccia,  which  spread  over  the 
wild  and  inaccessible  Absaroka  rnountgiins.  In  the  middle  of  this 
extensive  area,  where  the  lava  is  a  thousand  meters  (3,250  feet) 
thick  in  places,  is  situated  Yellowstone  Lake,  which  is  a  remainder 
of  the  glaciers  of  the  last  ice  period/  The  entire  basin  is  surround- 
ed by  a  tremendous  mountain  range  which  in  the  east  has  gran- 
diose alpine  formations. 

Climatically  the  National  Park  belongs  to  the  Taiga. ^  It  is 
cool  the  year  round,  and  the  winter  shows  great  temperature  drops. 
In  February,  1933  a  temperature  of  — 66 °F.  was  noted  at  River- 
side Ranger  Station  at  the  western  entrance.  The  snow  during 
the  winter  is  deep;  it  begins  early  and  remains  for  so  long  that  the 
park  is  open  for  visitors  only  from  the  middle  of  June  to  the  middle 
of  September.  Summer,  counting  from  the  last  frost  in  the  spring 
to  the  first  one  in  the  fall,  is  not  more  than  thirty  days. 

Plant  and  animal  life  within  the  park  is  best  characterized  by 
reference  to  the  Merriam  regional  system:  The  main  part  comes 
under  the  Canadian  zone,  the  rest  under  the  Hudsonian  zone. 
Coniferous  trees  of  many  kinds,  some  deciduous  trees  (birch, 
aspen,  willow,  etc.)  and  several  kinds  of  berries  belong  to  the 
flora  of  this  region,  while  the  fauna  is  foremost  represented  by  a 
lot  of  bigger  and  smaller  fur  bearing  animals.  Among  the  larger 
animals  there  are  the  grizzly  bear,  the  black  bear,  moose,  wapiti, 
and  bighorn.    Also  deer,  antelope  and  buffalo. 

Against  the  background  of  these  tentative  data  it  is  possible  to 
give  a  rough  estimation  of  the  means  available  to  the  Indians  in 
exploiting  the  Park.  These  resources  changed,  however,  quite 
naturally  with  the  cultural  status  and  activities  of  the  exploiters. 

1.  The  area  controlled  by  primitive  gatherers  and  hunters. 
A  primitive  hunting  people  may  easily  be  well-off  here,  in  spite 
of  the  character  of  the  country,  the  high  elevation  and  the  severity 
of  the  winter.  Rivers  and  lakes  contain  plenty  of  fish  (especially 
several  kinds  of  trout,  in  Yellowstone  River,  also  whitefish), 
forests  and  mountains  shelter  fur-bearing  animals  and  edible  wild 
game,  and  there  are  also  in  places  an  abundance  of  berries.  Such 
sources  for  sustenance  may,  however,  also  be  attractive  to  people 
with  technically  more  advanced  culture  (see  below  under  2),  and 
the  gatherers  would  then  be  forced  up  into  the  mountains,  where 
the  bighorn  is  the  best  game. 

2.  The  area  controlled  by  hunting  peoples  with  a  more  devel- 
oped culture,  e.g.,  mounted  plains  tribes.  When  such  peoples 
confine  their  hunting  to  buffalos»and  other  hoofed  animals,  their 
interest  in  the  park  region  must  be  fairly  hmited.  One  can  expect 
that  only  at  certain  hunting  seasons — and  then  only  in  connection 
with  the  wanderings  of  the  buffalos — they  stay  in  the  park,  espe- 
cially in  its  more  open  and  lower  situated  areas.    It  is  here  that  the 


128  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

horses  get  along  better,  and  it  is  here  that  those  animals  dwell 
which  are  most  important  in  the  economic  system  of  the  Plains 
culture. 

The  mounted  Indians  raiding  the  Park  in  order  to  plunder  or 
fight  hostile  groups  may  reasonably  also  be  referred  to  this  group 
of  exploiters.  Military  aggression  was  intimately  associated  with 
the  ideological  structure  of  the  Plains  culture.^ 

3.  The  area  controlled  by  agricultural  Indians.  It  may  seem 
superfluous  to  consider  this  alternative,  because  the  shortness  of 
the  summer  season  does  not  leave  a  broad  margin  of  existence  for 
a  people  Uving  from  agricultural  products.  It  is  unlikely  that  any 
farming  was  done  in  Yellowstone  Park;  the  findings  of  prehistoric 
pottery  within  the  Park  do  not  confirm  anything  to  this  effect,  as 
the  former  ethnological  concept  of  simultaneous  dissemination  of 
pottery  and  agriculture  long  since  is  disproved."  On  the  other 
hand,  agricultural  Indians  may  very  well  temporarily  have  stayed 
in  the  national  Park  in  order  to  hunt,  quarry  obsidian,  etc. 

4.  The  area  controlled  by  Indians  exploiting  the  natural 
resources  of  the  park  for  export.  It  seems  very  likely,  for  instance, 
that  Indians  from  far  and  near  went  to  the  Park  area  to  quarry  its 
obsidian.  In  the  Park  there  is  plenty  of  obsidian  available  which 
was  formed  when  the  volcanic  lava  rapidly  cooled  off.  Another 
desirable  article  for  trade  may  have  been  the  teeth  of  grizzly 
bears,  which  were  used  as  ornaments  and  amulets  by  the  Indians 
from  the  Woodlands  and  the  Plains. 

The  above  survey  shows,  that  already  before  the  white  people 
entered  Yellowstone,  the  Park  with  all  likelihood  may  have  been 
the  environment  for  three  different  forms  of  primitive  economy. 
However,  it  will  be  noted  that  only  a  people  on  the  level  of  gath- 
erers and  primitive  hunters  could  entirely  subsist  on  the  means  of 
support  existing  in  the  Park. 

THE  CULTURES 

Archaeological  and  historical  data  show  that  the  three  forms 
of  exploitation,  considered  as  possible,  have  really  existed  within 
the  National  Park  in  ancient  times.  During  several  periods  they 
have  existed  simultaneously,  as  for  instance  during  the  18th  cen- 
tury.    Let  us  review  them: 

1.  Since  time  immemorial  the  Park  has  presumably  been  the 
habitat  of  primitive  hunters  and  gatherers,  whoever  those  people 
may  have  been.  In  the  last  centuries  a  Shoshonean  mountain 
people,  dukurika,  apparently  lived  within  the  area. 

2.  The  last  Indians  who  controlled  the  Yellowstone  Park  were 
Plains  Indians,  and  from  them  the  white  authorities  officially 
bought  the  territory.  Until  the  end  of  the  1870's  the  Plains 
and  Plateau  Indians  operated  within  the  Park  area  hunting,  fight- 
ing and  robbing.    The  Plains  Indians  who  considered  the  Park  as 


THE  INDIANS  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK  129 

their  direct  sphere  of  interest  were:  the  Shoshones,  the  Bannocks, 
the  Crows  and  the  Blackfeet  Indians. 

3-4.  In  the  early  days  agricultural  Indians  from  the  east  visited 
the  Park  and  obtained  obsidian,  horns  of  mountain  sheep  and 
teeth  of  bear,  all  valuable  items  within  their  cultures.  Later  the 
Shoshones  and  perhaps  also  other  Plains  Indians  arranged  for  the 
export  of  these  goods,  as  well  as  for  various'  prodiiets  of  hide  (for 
example  the  hide  of  mountain  sheep),  which  were  bought  by  white 
traders. 

In  the  following  historical  survey  of  the  National  Park  in 
aboriginal  Indian  days,  the  different  cultures,  will  be  treated  in 
chronological  order. 

YELLOWSTONE  PARK  IN  PREHISTORIC  TIMES^o 

As  has  been  indirectly  stated  in  the  preceding  survey,  the  area  of 
the  Yellowstone's  headwaters  must  be  considered  as  a  region  which 
is  both  relatively  unimportant  and  inaccessible  for  a  primitive 
people  with  a  technically  complicated  culture.  Characteristically 
enough,  in  the  19th  century  the  country  was  an  outlying  area  in 
the  intersection  of  several  Indian  territories,  namely  those  of  the 
Blackfeet,  the  Crows,  the  Bannocks  and  the  Shoshones.  It  must 
have  been  different  in  older  times,  when  people  with  a  relatively 
uncomplicated  culture  (e.g.,  the  dukurika)  could  use  the  park  area 
as  their  main  hunting-grounds. 

Far  back  in  time,  Yellowstone  Park  undoubtedly  has  been  an 
important  region  to  the  Indians.  This  is  evident  by  its  geographic 
position,  which  must  have  appeared  both  central  and  protected, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  hunters  and  gatherer.  If  we  adhere 
to  the  thesis  of  the  aboriginals  migrating  over  the  Bering  Straits, ^^ 
the  main  direction  of  migration  southward  ought  to  have  gone  past 
Yellowstone  Park,  possibly  on  both  sides  of  it.  The  "high  western 
plains"  and  the  "intermountain  region"  were  passable  entries 
which  the  migrators  traversed  a  couple  of  ten  thousands  of  years 
ago.^-  Much  later,  probably  five  or  six  hundred  years  ago,  the 
Athabascans  followed  either  of  these  routes,  and  in  the  end  of  the 
1 7th  century  the  Kiowas  and  the  Comanches  migrated  towards  the 
south  along  the  old  eastern  trail. ^-^  Between  these  main  passages, 
protected  but  not  isolated,  the  largest  region  of  geysers  in  the 
world  was  situated  as  a  fortress  on  the  crest  of  the  Continental 
Divide. 

The  archaeological  findings  are  comparatively  few.  In  any 
case,  for  the  distant  past  no  evidences  have  been  found  of  any 
form  of  Indian  settlements.  Accprding  to  research  into  older 
climatic  conditions  in  North  America,  it  seems  possible  that  the 
National  Park  constituted  an  effective  place  of  refuge  for  surround- 
ing groups  of  Indians  during  the  so-called  Anathermal  period 
(5000-2500  B.C.)i*     The  prevalent  dry  and  hot  climate  forced 


130 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


Buffalo  Herd,  Yellowstone  National   Park 
Stimson  photo,  Wyoming  State  Archives  and  Historical  Department 


a  considerable  part  of  the  population  from  the  present  deserts  and 
plains  in  the  middle  of  the  North  American  continent.  This  popu- 
lation vacuum  seems  to  have  prevailed  in  the  Great  Basin  area> 
also  during  the  following  Medithermal  period  to  the  last  centuries 
B.C.^'"  During  these  milleniums  the  region  of  the  glacial  lakes  in 
Yellowstone  must  have  been  the  refuge  for  Indians  from  both  the 
west  and  the  south. 

In  close  proximity  to  the  National  Park,  several  sites  from  this 
period  have  been  discovered.  They  represent  the  oldest  cultures 
of  buffalo  hunters,  the  Folsom  culture  about  8000  B.C.  and  the 
Yuma  culture  about  6000-4000  B.C.^''  Grooved  arrow  heads  or 
spear  points,  typical  of  the  Folsom  period,  have  been  found  near 
Helena,  Montana.^"  At  Sage  Creek  near  Cody,  Wyoming,  Yuma 
points  from  about  5000  B.C.  have  been  discovered  and  dated 
through  the  new  Carbon  14  method.  ^'^  Yuma  points  have  also 
been  found  together  with  artifacts  from  a  later  period  at  the  site 
of  Red  Lodge  in  southern  Montana  as  well  as  in  the  lowest  cultural 
strata  of  Pictograph  Cave  near  Billings,  Montana.^"'  Other  sites, 
some  distance  away  from  Yellowstone  Park,  could  also  be  men- 
tioned.   But  in  this  connection  they  are  of  less  interest. 

The  hunters  from  the  Yuma  period,  living  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
National  Park — and  possibly  within  the  Park — were  gradually 
succeeded  by  other  peoples.  East  of  the  Park,  along  the  Shoshone 
River,  several  smaller  encampments  have  been  discovered,  con- 


THE  INDIANS  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK  131 

taining  a  cultural  complex  which  in  part  seems  typical  of  horizon 
II  in  Pictograph  Cave.  The  amount  of  metates,  the  scantiness  of 
projectile  points  and  bones  from  animals  indicate  that  the  inhabi- 
tants were  gatherers,  subsisting  on  vegetables.  There  are  several 
signs  pointing  to  the  fact  that  these  gatherers  had  their  refugs  in 
large  parts  of  the  Wyoming  Basin.-"  Very  likely  they  also  had 
camps  in  Yellowstone  Park.  It  has  not  yet  been  possible  to  state 
the  origin  and  age  of  this  prehistoric  culture  of  gatherers.  Pending 
more  detailed  reports,  the  following  interpretation  remains  hypo- 
thetical. If  the  culture  of  the  gatherers  has  a  certain,  though  slight, 
affinity  with  Pictograph  Cave  II,  and,  as  Mulloy  pointed  out,  the 
latter  in  its  turn  to  a  great  extent  is  identical  with  Signal  Butte  II 
in  western-most  Nebraska,^'^  we  acquire  a  vague  background  for 
the  dating  of  the  culture  of  the  gatherers,  for  Signal  Butte  II 
followed  Signal  Butte  I,  which  has  been  dated  before  or  about 
1000  B.C.--  Griffin's  conclusion,  stating  the  age  of  Signal  Butte 
II  as  about  700  A.D.,-"^  does  not  appear  reliable,  since  only 
period  III  has  ceramics;  and,  so  far  as  is  known,  pottery  came 
into  the  Plains  (from  the  East)  several  centuries  B.C.-^  Every- 
thing suggests  that  the  old  culture  of  gatherers  in  Wyoming  already 
existed  before  the  beginning  of  our  pottery  chronology. 

Further  data  about  this  particular  culture  are  not  known.  Sim- 
ilar cultures  with  metates  may  have  existed  at  this  time,  both  in 
the  Great  Basin  and  around  the  lower  part  of  the  Missouri. 

A  certain  contact  existed  possibly  simultaneously  between  the 
Missouri  and  Yellowstone.  People  from  the  great  river  basin  in 
the  east  have  come  wandering  along  the  Platte  River  and  camped 
in  the  Sweetwater  country,  where  the  pictographs  in  Castle  Gar- 
dens, with  the  characteristic  drawings  of  the  big  water  turtle,  testify 
about  their  presence. -•"*  In  all  likelihood  these  Indians  brought 
pottery  and  fishing  tools  from  the  eastern  woodland  culture  to 
Yellowstone  Park. 

From  this  time  and  some  centuries  onward  the  earliest  archaeo- 
logical finds  from  the  Park  area  itself  originate.  About  1880 
fragments  of  a  big  clay  vessel  were  found  in  the  park.  According 
to  Holmes'  description,  the  vessel  is  ornated  with  a  series  of 
circular  bulges  and  incisions  immediately  under  the  upper  edge. 
Holmes  shows,  that  as  regards  the  ornamentation,  the  vessel  has 
certain  analogies  with  the  pottery  found  in  Naples,  Illinois. -"^  In 
reality,  complete  identity  in  style  exists:  The  finding  from  Yellow- 
stone must  be  referred  to  the  cord-market  ceramic  group  which 
was  manufactured  during  the  middle  and  later  Hopewell  period 
in  Naples,  Illinois,  and,  to  a  certain  degree,  in  Weaver.-^  The 
dating  of  the  Hopewell  period  is  rather  doubtful.  Perhaps  this 
culture  belongs  to  the  time  around  the  birth  of  Christ  and  the 
following  centuries.^^ 

But  why  did  the  agricultural  HopeweU  Indians  want  to  go  to 


132  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Yellowstone  Park?  Apparently  because  they  wished  to  exploit 
those  natural  resources  in  the  Park,  which  held  the  greatest  attrac- 
tion for  a  distant  high  culture:  the  obsidian  mines.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  Hopewell  Indians  undertook  long  journeys  and 
that  they,  more  than  other  ancient  cultural  groups,  made  use  of 
obsidian.""  Undoubtedly  they  visited  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
where  there  are  several  places  containing  obsidian  which  was 
mined  by  prehistoric  Indians.-^"  Shetrone  thinks  that  the  HopeweU 
Indians  outfitted  special  expeditions  to  get  obsidian  and  teeth  of 
the  grizzlies  from  Yellowstone  Park.-^^  There  are  indications  that 
Obsidian  Cliff,  the  huge  mountain  of  obsidian  in  the  northwestern 
part  of  the  Park,  east  of  the  Gallatin  Range,  was  neutral  ground 
to  Indians  looking  for  material  for  arrow  heads — perhaps  holy 
ground  in  the  same  way  as  the  well-known  mines  of  catlinite  at 
Coteau  des  Prairies:^'-  Among  those  getting  obsidian  from  Yellow- 
stone Park  we  find  the  Hopewell  Indians  from  Illinois.  The  proofs 
are  the  above  mentioned  potsherds  and  the  findings  of  obsidian 
in  the  Naples  site.-^'^ 

Possibly  the  Hopewell  Indians  brought  plummets  to  the  National 
Park.  These  egg-shaped  stones  with  a  scooped  out  groove  or  hole 
in  the  narrower  end  existed  in  the  Woodland  cultures  in  the  east 
several  centuries  B.C.'^^  In  the  Illinois  area  for  instance,  they 
appeared  in  the  Baumer  culture.-^''  It  is  possible  that  these  stones 
were  used  as  sinkers  while  fishing.  It  is  not  known  whether  they 
were  used  with  net  or  with  line  and  drag.'^*'  The  plummet  found 
in  Yellowstone  Park  is  made  of  quartz  and  mica  and  is  described 
as  eliptic,  pointed  at  both  ends  and  perforated  in  the  one  end.'^' 

The  Hopewell  Indians  probably  retained  contact  with  Yellow- 
stone Park  to  the  very  end.  Their  interests  and  privileges  were 
taken  over  by  the  Upper  Republican  in  Nebraska  and  Kansas,  a 
culture  developed  in  the  periphery  of  the  Hopewell  area.  This 
semi-settled  culture,  showing  a  certain  affinity  to  the  culture  of 
the  Pawnees,  who  lived  within  the  same  region  in  historic  time, 
probably  disappeared  in  the  15th  century.  So  the  last  possible 
contact  broke  off  between  Yellowstone  Park  and  the  agricultural 
east.^'* 

However,  at  least  one  fact  shows  that  an  indirect  contact  re- 
mained. Lewis  and  Clark  relate  that,  in  1 804,  the  Mandans  and 
the  Arikara  in  North  Dakota  produced  beads  from  pulverized 
blue  glass,  an  art  which  they  said  they  had  learned  from  the  Snake 
Indians  (Shoshones).  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  glass  referred  to 
apparently  had  been  imported  by  white  people.''"  However,  Mat- 
thews relates  having  been  told  by  the  Indians  that  in  the  old  days 
they  got  the  glass  back  "in  the  hills". ^"  Ball  considers  it  likely  that 
the  glass  in  question  was  obsidian  and  that  the  finding  place  must 
have  been  Yellowstone  National  Park.^^  It  is  not  far  fetched  to 
believe  that  in  the  18th  century  the  Shoshones,  controlling  both 
the  Yellowstone  area  and  the  great  plains  north-east  of  it,  traded 


THE  INDIANS  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK  133 

with  the  Mandans  and  the  Arikara,  which  also  meant  export  of 
obsidian.  The  settlements  of  the  last  mentioned  tribes  on  the 
upper  Missouri  were  the  places  on  the  northern  and  central  Plains 
mostly  used  for  trading,  and  they  were  not  least  used  for  trade  by 
tribes  from  the  Rocky  Mountain  area.^-  The  Shoshones  were 
extremely  skilled  in  working  with  obsidian. ^-^  Probably  therefore 
they  supplied  the  village  tribes  at  the  upper  Missouri  both  with 
obsidian  and  the  art  of  manufacturing  it. 

When  historic  time  dawned  upon  Yellowstone  Park,  the  Park 
was  inhabited  by  Shoshones  who  probably  already  had  been  there 
for  a  long  time. 

THE  IMMIGRATION  OF  THE  SHOSHONES 

The  prehistory  of  the  Shoshones  is  little  known.  Before  1800 
their  history  west  of  the  Continental  Divide  is  practically  unknown, 
as  the  Great  Basin  and  its  peoples  are  not  described  in  any  docu- 
ments before  this  date,  and  the  archaeological  findings  within  the 
region,  only  in  some  cases,  can  be  brought  back  to  Shoshone 
Indian  groups. ^^  The  branch  of  the  Shoshonean  family,  which  in 
historic  time  lived  around  Yellowstone  Park,  namely  the  northern 
and  eastern  Shoshones,  probably  had  their  centers  in  eastern 
Idaho,  northeastern  Utah  and  southwestern  Wyoming.^"'  In  these 
areas  one  form  of  the  Basin  culture  presumably  prevailed,  closely 
related  to  that  culture  which  in  historic  times  existed  among  the 
West  Shoshones  in  Nevada  and  among  their  neighbors  to  the  West, 
the  Northern  Paiutes.  Successively,  the  eastern  Shoshones  pene- 
trated into  Montana,  Wyoming  and  Colorado,  and  in  so  doing 
they  also  took  possession  of  Yellowstone  Park. 

It  is  impossible  to  fix  an  approximate  date  for  the  eastern 
expansion  of  the  Shoshones.  Mainly  relying  on  linguistic  calcula- 
tions, Shimkin  states  the  time  to  be  about  1500  A.D.^''  The  date 
is  likely,  but  rather  uncertain.  The  archaeological  findings  east 
of  the  Rockies  yield  no  clear  answer.  For  instance,  Birdshead 
Cave,  a  site  at  Owl  Creek  Mountains  some  miles  northwest  of 
the  present  city  of  Shoshoni,  has  several  cultural  strata  of  apparent 
western  origin:  the  strata  IV-VI  show  a  culture  related  to  that  of 
the  West-Shoshones,  based  on  hunting  of  bigger  mammals.^''' 
Some  primitive  Basin  Shoshones  have  apparently  maintained  this 
culture;  and  according  to  evidences  in  the  same  cave,  it  superseded 
the  primitive  gathering  culture  mentioned  before.  But  on  the 
one  hand  these  cultural  levels  are  undated  (stratum  II  may  be 
both  3000  and  5000  years  old),  and  on  the  other  hand  it  is 
uncertain  whether  the  gatherers  of  vegetables  (strata  II  and  III) 
have  not  been  identical  with  the  Shoshones  at  least  during  the  later 
periods.  The  problem  of  timing  the  Shoshone  migration  remains 
unsolved. 

The  primitive  Shoshone  hunters  and  gatherers,  who  sometime 


134  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

in  the  past  migrated  over  the  Rocky  Mountains,  soon  spread  over  a 
region  to  the  north  as  far  as  Saskatchewan  and  to  the  east  to  the 
Dakotas  and  the  prairies  of  Nebraska,  as  documentation  from  the 
middle  of  the  18th  century  shows. ^•''  But  long  before  this  time 
Yellowstone  Park  undoubtedly  was  under  the  control  of  the  Sho- 
shones.  And  while  the  Shoshones  who  roamed  on  the  plains 
changed  into  mounted  nomads  during  the  1 8th  century  and  more 
or  less  took  over  the  culture  traditionally  connected  with  the  Plains 
Indian,  the  Shoshones  of  the  forests  and  mountains  kept  to  that 
which  was  essential  of  their  ancestral  Basin  culture.  To  these 
Shoshones  the  Dukurika  in  Yellowstone  Park  belonged. 


THE  DUKURIKA  INDIANS 

Dukurika,  meaning  "sheepeaters''  in  Shoshone,  is  the  collective 
name  for  all  the  groups  of  Shoshones  who  in  historic  time  roamed 
as  primitive  hunters  in  eastern  Idaho  and  western  Wyoming, 
mainly  pursuing  the  wild  mountain  sheep,  Ovis  canadensis.  Com- 
peting for  the  wild  game  with  the  mounted  Plains  Indians,  the 
Dukurikas  who  did  not  change  their  old  forms  of  existence  were 
forced  further  up  into  the  inaccessible  mountain  ranges;  one  of 
their  last  entrenchments  was  Yellowstone  Park.^"  As  these  prim- 
itive Shoshones  are  the  only  known  Indians  from  later  time  who 
actually  lived  within  the  Park,  a  rough  outline  of  their  culture  may 
be  of  interest.  The  information  is  derived  from  my  Indian  inform- 
ants (Dukurikas)  on  Wind  River  reservation  in  Wyoming,  and. 
from  manuscripts  in  archives  and  older  literature."'" 

These  primitive  Indians  of  relatively  short  stature  have  also 
seemed  to  be  a  puzzling  people  to  their  tribesmen  from  the  Plains. 
Though  marriages  between  Dukurika  and  the  Plains  Shoshone 
occurred  not  infrequently,  the  former  maintained  their  secluded, 
isolated  life,  distrustful  of  strangers,  and  seldom  being  seen.  Pos- 
sibly a  fear  for  the  Plains  Indians  coupled  with  a  feeling  of  isola- 
tion in  the  mountain  region  contributed  to  this  mentality.  Once 
restricted  to  the  mountains,  the  Dukurika  were  forced  to  higher 
regions  for  economical  reasons:  Here  roamed  the  wild  mountain 
sheep  of  the  Rockies,  the  most  edible  game  as  well  as  the  most 
useful  one  in  general,  in  an  otherwise  most  unfertile  mountain  area. 
In  a  way  the  mountain  sheep  became  as  important  to  the  Sho- 
shones in  the  mountains  as  the  buffalo  to  the  Plains  Shoshones. 
Their  life  was  adapted  to  the  demands  of  their  game,  the  mountain 
sheep.  The  Mountain  Indians  had  to  adapt  themselves  to  an  un- 
favorable climate  and  a  rugged  nature.  This  meant  both  cultural 
stagnation  and  cultural  specialization. 

In  several  important  ways  the  culture  of  the  Yellowstone  Sho- 
shones may  have  been  identical  with  the  culture  of  their  ancestors, 
scattered  over  the  entire  western  Wyoming.    Not  only  the  moun- 


THE  INDIANS  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK  135 

tain  sheep  but  also  other  big  game  and  not  a  httle  of  small  gams 
served  them  as  food.  Deer,  antelope  and  sheep  were  shot  with 
bow  and  arrows  with  obsidian  arrowheads;  bear  were  caught  in 
pitfalls,  groundhogs  were  smoked  out  their  holes,  etc.  Where 
there  were  waters  abounding  in  fish,  fishing  was  pursued;  and  a 
lot  of  vegetables  were  gathered,  though  probably  not  as  much  as 
among  the  western  Shoshones  in  the  Great  Basin:  there  were 
many  berries  of  all  kinds,  but  also  roots  which  were  dug  out  with 
the  help  of  digging  sticks.  Antlered  and  horned  animals  supplied 
the  material  for  clothing.  The  shelters  were  probably  mostly 
cone-shaped,  covered  by  tules  or  bulrushes  and  branches  of  pine, 
sometimes — especially  during  the  summer — simple  grass  huts.  In 
some  places  also  caves  and  tents  from  hides  may  have  been  used. 
Disregarding  the  more  involved  kinship  system  the  social  structure 
was  very  elementary,  the  family  group  being  both  th^  social  and 
political  unit.  The  religion  was  dominated  by  a  primitive  shaman- 
ism coupled  with  a  belief  in  various  nature  spirits;  one  essential 
spirit  was  the  invisible  dwarf  spirit  nynymbi,  which  was  considered 
to  cause  the  more  serious  illnesses. 

As  before  mentioned,  the  culture  of  the  Dukurika  was  special- 
ized, because  for  their  support  they  were  dependent  on  the  moun- 
tain sheep  or  the  bighorn,  Ovis  canadensis.  These  sheep  were 
hunted  by  dogs  on  isolated  cliffs  and  shot  with  bow  and  arrow. 
The  use  of  snow  shoes  in  winter  time  facilitated  hunting  in  the 
snowcovered  mountains.  The  game  was  butchered  and  packed  in 
bags  of  hide,  loaded  on  travois,  and  pulled  by  large  dogs  (the  race 
is  now  extinct).  Hunting  mainly  mountain  sheep  possibly  re- 
shaped or  modified  the  Shoshone  culture;  there  are  reasons  to 
suspect  that  both  the  completeness  of  the  dress,  the  varied  material 
for  shelters,  and  the  lack  of  real  tribal  organization  constitute 
adaptations  to  the  type  of  nature  where  the  pursuit  of  mountain 
sheep  took  place.  In  the  same  manner  the  mentality  of  the 
Dukurika  was  possibly  formed  as  has  already  been  stated. 

The  Dukurika  were  a  peaceful  people,  almost  timid.  They 
stayed  away  in  the  mountains,  but  as  the  Sioux  Indians  and  other 
marauding  Plains  tribes  assaulted  them  and  smallpox  diminished 
their  number,  they  went  down  to  their  tribesmen  on  the  plains 
in  Idaho  and  Wyoming  and  joined  them  on  the  reservations  set 
apart  for  them.  In  1879,  probably,  the  last  Dukurika  Indians 
left  Yellowstone  Park. 

One  of  the  last  independent  Sheepeater  Indians,  Togwotee, 
became  a  chief  among  the  Plains  Shoshone  (under  Washakie), 
and  he  was  a  trusted  and  famous  guide  during  the  end  of  the 
Indian  wars.  He  was  also  a  feared  medicine  man.  Togwotee 
Pass  in  the  Teton  National  Forest  close  to  Yellowstone  Park  is 
named  for  him.  When  in  1883,  President  Chester  Arthur  with 
his  attendants  rode  from  Washakie  Springs  to  Yellowstone  Park, 


136 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


Obsidian  Cliff,  Yellowstone  National  Park 
Stimson  photo,  Wyoming  State  Archives  and  Historical  Department 


he  passed  along  Indian  paths  and  animal  trails,  and  the  guides 
were  some  Dukurika  Indians  conducted  by  Togwotee. 

As  to  the  exact  dwelling  sites  of  the  Dukurika  Indians  in  the 
National  Park,  we  know  very  little.  Probably  they  roamed  over 
the  whole  region.  Indian  paths  cross  the  valleys  of  the  Park  in 
all  directions;  probably  from  the  very  beginning  they  were  trodden 
by  the  Sheepeaters,  though  we  got  to  know  them  as  passages  for 
other  peoples  (cf.  below).  Traces  of  Dukurika  culture  such  as 
simple  shelters  and  enclosures  for  hunting  have  been  found  every- 
where in  the  Park.  Obsidian  Cliff,  mentioned  previously,  probably 
is  the  place  where  the  Dukurika  suppleid  themselves  with  material 
for  arrowheads  and  spearheads,  skinscrapers  and  knives.  Not  far 
north  of  Obsidian  Cliff  along  the  Gardner  River  towards  Undine 
Falls,  there  are  the  longish  Sheepeater  Cliffs  and  Sheepeater  Can- 
yon. In  this  region  Superintendent  Norris  (1877-1882)  discov- 
ered the  "ancient  but  recently  deserted,  secluded,  unknown 
haunts"  of  the  Dukurikas.  It  is  possible  that  also  many  of  the 
Indian  camps,  found  around  the  shores  of  Yellowstone  Lake, 


THE  INDIANS  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK  137 

are  traces  from  the  Dukurika  Indians.     In  that  case  they  would 
have  been  in  seasonal  use  as  bases  for  hunting  and  fishing. 

The  most  remarkable  relics  of  these  Indians  have  otherwise  been 
discovered  outside  the  National  Park.  Scientists  as  well  as  Indians 
have  considered  that  the  primitive  wooden  huts  in  Shoshone 
National  Forest,  the  mystical  stone  construction  Medicine  Wheel 
in  the  Big  Horn  Range,  and  the  pictographs  at  Dinwoody  in  the 
Wind  River  Range,  all  may  originate  from  the  Dukurika  Indians. 

THE  PLAINS  INDIANS  IN  THE  NATIONAL  PARK 

I  mentioned  that  the  Dukurika  Indians  hid  themselves  in  the 
forests  and  mountains  of  Yellowstone  Park.  However  there  are 
indications  that  they  never  were  the  sole  owners  of  the  region. 
Down  in  the  valleys  and  along  the  rivers  there  roamed  other 
Indians,  belonging  to  tribes  having  their  main  hunting  grounds 
outside  the  Park  proper.  There  are  reasons  to  beUeve  that  these 
heavily  armed  Indians  had  forced  the  Dukurikas  from  the  valleys 
and  the  plains.  For  all,  the  transformation  of  the  Plains  Indians 
to  mounted  nomads  must  have  had  fatal  consequences  for  the 
Dukurikas  living  in  the  lower  regions  of  the  Park.  The  change 
of  living  among  the  surrounding  Plains  Indians  can  be  fixed  to 
the  time  after  1700.^1 

But  how  could  mounted  Indians  force  themselves  into  an 
inaccessible  area  such  as  Yellowstone  Park?  The  passes  are 
difficult  to  traverse,  the  forests  are  thick  with  heavy  brushwood, 
and  the  mountain  ranges — especially  in  the  east — are  insur- 
mountable. Still  more,  a  frosty  climate  prevailed  and  a  thick 
cover  of  snow  closed  off  the  Park  from  mounted  visitors  through 
the  main  part  of  the  year.  It  is  remarkable  that  mounted  Indians 
on  the  whole  succeeded  in  entering  the  Park.  They  were,  however, 
well  acquainted  with  the  passes,  and  there  were  paths  to  follow, 
though  usually  poorly  trodden.  Some  of  these  old  Indian  trails 
are  nowadays  used  by  the  tourists. ^^ 

So  the  hardened  and  agile  Plains  Indians  defied  the  obstacles  of 
nature.  But  why  did  they  go  to  all  this  trouble;  the  hunting 
grounds  outside  the  Park  area  were  better,  and  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  Plains  Indians  this  region  must  have  been  less  attractive 
and  almost  frightening — evil  spirits  lived  In  the  geysers  according 
to  the  Shoshones,  the  Bannocks  and  the  Crows. ^^  But  do  not 
forget  that  even  the  nomads  of  the  Plains  could  find  things  of  value 
in  Yellowstone  Park.  There  was  obsidian  for  weapons  and  tools, 
there  lived  many  wapiti,  and  there  they  could  obtain  the  sought 
for  hides  of  beaver  and  mountain  sheep  which  were  used  in  trading 
with  the  white  people.  According  to  my  information,  the  Sho- 
shones also  got  power  for  medicine  and  relief  from  rheumatism 
from  the  hot  springs. 


138  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Besides  this,  the  Park  was  the  home  of  three  herds  of  buffalos. 
Norris'  account  of  the  buffalo  stock  in  1880  showed  that  in  sum- 
mertime a  herd  of  two  hundred  animals  lived  furthest  north  be- 
tween Crevice  Creek  and  Slough  Creek,  and  in  wintertime  they 
grazed  at  Lamar  and  Soda  Butte  farther  southeast.  A  second  herd 
of  a  hundred  animals  had  their  summer  grazing  in  the  center  of 
the  eastern  parts  of  the  Park,  from  Hoodoo  Basin  to  Grand 
Canyon  and  toward  Yellowstone  Lake;  those  grazed  during  the 
winter  at  Pelican  Creek  and  Lamar.  Last,  a  third  herd  of  three 
hundred  animals,  divided  in  different  groups,  grazed  in  the  summer 
on  the  Madison  Plateau  and  Little  Madison  River  in  the  center  of 
the  western  parts  of  the  Park;  these  animals  probably  stayed  over 
the  winter  west  of  the  Park.-"^^  In  all  likehhood,  these  herds  had 
already  been  reduced — the  number  of  individual  buffalo  appears 
very  small,  and  the  buffalos  on  the  Plains  were  being  extinguished 
at  this  time.  Not  until  1894  was  it  definitely  forbidden  to  hunt 
buffalos  in  the  Park.""-^  Probably  there  has  never  been  any  greater 
number  of  buffalos  in  Yellowstone.  The  information  I  received 
from  the  Dukurika  Indians  concerning  a  great  number  of  buffalo 
in  the  mountains  probably  refers  to  regions  somewhat  further 
south.  Significantly  enough,  the  Bannocks  living  west  of  the  Park 
went  eastward  across  the  Park  (via  the  so-called  great  Bannock 
trail)  in  order  to  hunt  buffalos  east  of  the  Big  Horn  mountains."'*' 

The  herds  in  the  National  Park  must  have  gained  in  importance 
as  the  buffalos  on  the  plains  "went  underground".  In  1880,  at 
Miller  Creek  Springs,  i.e.,  in  the  most  eastern  edge  of  Yellowstone 
Park,  but  at  the  same  time  with  the  buffalo  grounds  within  reach," 
Norris  found  the  relics  of  about  forty  Indian  lodges,  which  appar- 
ently had  been  in  use  the  previous  year.  Hidden  amidst  the  moun- 
tains and  with  excellent  grazing  in  several  adjoining  canyons,  this 
camping  ground  was  a  very  good  place  for  marauding  Indians. 
There  were  plenty  of  traces  showing  frequent  usage  in  summer 
time.  "Fragments  of  china-ware,  blankets,  bed-clothing,  and 
costly  male  and  female  wear-apparel  here  found,  were  mute 
but  mournful  witnesses  of  border-raids  and  massacres",  Norris 
reports.''^ 

Incidentally,  it  was  suggested  that  the  National  Park  also  ap- 
peared to  be  the  thoroughfare  for  Indians  from  the  West.  Without 
doubt  this  traffic  was  intensified  in  the  nineteenth  century,  when 
the  West  Shoshones  and  mounted  Indians  of  the  Plateaus  changed 
to  hunting  buffalos  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  Dukurikas, 
who  already  earlier  had  been  ousted  from  the  Plains,  were  now 
entirely  isolated  in  the  mountains,  and  on  all  sides  surrounded 
by  mounted  nomads.  The  raiding  into  the  Park  by  the  Plains 
Indians  should,  however,  not  be  overestimated.  One  member  of 
the  Washburn  expedition  reports  in  1870  (a  year  when  the  whole 
West  was  in  latent  war)  that  "a  party  of  three  can  travel  with 


THE  INDIANS  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK  139 

perfect  safety,  so  far  as  Indians  are  concerned,  in  any  part  of  this 
district"  (Yellowstone  Park)."^ 

Nevertheless,  the  following  survey  of  the  activities  of  different 
tribes  will  show  that  the  Park  was  the  scene  for  many  hostile  acts 
from  the  Plains  and  Plateau  Indians. 

THE  KIOWA  INDIANS  AND  YELLOWSTONE  PARK 

In  his  recent  handbook  on  the  North  American  Indians,  Swan- 
ton  shows  on  a  map  that  the  Kiowas  in  the  middle  of  the  17th 
century  held  the  northern  parts  of  Yellowstone  Park.'"''  The 
reason  for  locating  them  there  seems  to  be  the  statement  by 
Mooney  that  the  Kiowas,  who  in  historic  time  lived  in  Colorado 
and  Oklahoma,  have  a  tradition  saying  that  they  earlier  had  lived 
where  the  Jefferson,  Madison  and  Gallatin  forks  meet,  close  to 
Virginia  City,  Montana/'*^'  There  is  no  reason  not  to  believe  the 
truth  of  this  tradition.  But  the  Kiowas  have  hardly  more  than 
occasionally  stayed  in  the  Park  which  in  all  likelihood  already  at 
this  time  was  inhabited  by  the  Dukurikas. 

THE  PLAINS  SHOSHONES  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK 

For  the  mounted  groups  of  Shoshones  in  Wyoming,  Yellowstone 
Park  was  outlying  land  which  they  seldom  visited.  The  tribe  as  a 
whole  moved  (in  general)  between  Wind  River  Valley  and  Black's 
Fork  in  southwestern  Wyoming.  In  the  early  spring  and  in  the 
early  fall,  hunting  of  buffalos  took  place  in  any  one  of  the  river 
valleys  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state  or  in  Montana;  territories 
close  to  the  National  Park,  such  as  the  valleys  around  Shoshone 
River  and  Yellowstone  River  (in  its  lower  flow)  were  then  fre- 
quented by  the  Washakie  Shoshones.  But  to  Yellowstone  Park 
itself  they  never  came  as  a  group;  the  Park  was  moreover  at  these 
times  of  the  year  a  closed  area. 

The  Shoshones  were,  however,  very  loosely  organized,  and 
single  family  groups  stayed  at  times  within  the  Park.  Visits  were 
also  made  in  wintertime.  Washakie's  band — one  of  the  main 
groups  belonging  to  the  tribe — sometimes  passed  the  winter  at 
the  springs  of  Greybull  not  very  far  from  the  southeastern  corner 
of  the  National  Park.  Small  groups  of  Shoshones  on  snowshoes 
would  then  leave  the  base  camp  where  often  starvation  was  im- 
pending for  Yellowstone  Park  in  order  to  hunt  mountain  sheep, 
wapiti  and  beaver.  During  the  summer  smaller  groups  of  Sho- 
shones, momentarily  independent  from  the  tribe,  would  scour  the 
Park  area,  where  they  quarried  obsidian,  "pipestone"  (steatite), 
etc.  From  their  relatives,  the  Dukurikas,  they  acquired  the  hides 
of  big  horn  sheep  in  order  to  sell  them  to  the  white  traders  with 
good  returns.  How  they  used  the  hot  springs  for  medical  and 
religious  purposes  has  already  been  mentioned.     In  all  likelihood 


140  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

they  also  fished  in  Yellowstone  Lake.  This  lake  has  an  excep- 
tional abundance  of  fish,  and  numerous  Indian  camping  grounds 
have  been  found  along  its  shores.  It  is  true  that  according  to 
Shimkin  the  Shoshones  did  not  fish  in  Yellowstone  Lake  to  any 
great  extent.*'-  It  seems  to  me,  however,  that  Shimkin  here 
misunderstood  his  informants.  As  Shimkin  also  has  noted,  it  is 
evident  that  the  Plains  Shoshones  in  Wyoming  counted  the  area 
around  the  lake  as  their  region  of  interest. *'- 

In  the  middle  of  the  19th  century  some  groups  of  Shoshones 
from  Lemhi  River  in  Idaho  traversed  Yellowstone  Park  each  sum- 
mer on  their  way  to  the  buffalo  country  in  the  east.  According  to 
Teit,  the  Shoshones,  usually  called  the  Lemhis,  began  these 
journeys  when  they  got  horses.'''^  But  this  cannot  be  correct.  The 
ancestors  of  the  Lemhis  roamed  around  on  the  western  Plains 
already  before  they  owned  any  horses."^  And  when  they  were 
pushed  back  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  region  west  of  them, 
they  surely  were  mounted,  but  they  did  not  to  any  greater  extent 
try  to  return  to  the  Plains.''"'  Only  after  the  year  1840  did  they, 
during  the  summer,  more  generally  undertake  hunting  expeditions 
to  the  buffalo  grounds  east  of  the  Rockies.  The  reason  for  these 
seasonal  expeditions  probably  were  that  the  buffalo  at  this  time 
was  extinct  in  Idaho."*' 

After  1840  and  for  the  same  reasons  did  the  Bannocks  who 
were  related  to  the  Shoshones  traverse  the  mountain  range  to  the 
buffalo  country  in  Montana  and  Wyoming  in  company  with 
Shoshones  from  Fort  Hall.  These  expeditions  began  when  the 
leaves  fell  in  the  fall.'"  According  to  reports  from  the  1860's  the 
Bannocks  hunted  buffalo  below  the  Three  Forks  of  the  Missouri 
River  and  along  the  source-streams  of  Yellowstone  and  Wind 
Rivers. •''"'  The  most  notable  of  all  the  Indian  paths  leading  through 
Yellowstone  Park  was  the  Great  Bannock  Trail:  it  went  from 
Henry  Lake  in  Idaho  over  the  Gallatin  Mountains  to  Mammoth 
Hot  Springs,  continuing  over  the  plateau  to  the  ford  just  above 
Tower  Falls,  along  the  valley  of  Lamar  River  to  Soda  Butte,  and 
lastly  along  Clark's  Fork  and  Shoshone  River  to  the  valley  of  the 
Big  Horn.  Chittenden  reports  that  this  trail  was  very  old  and 
well-trodden.  It  had  made  definite  traces  in  the  grass-rich  hill- 
sides, and  in  several  places  it  was  still  visible  twenty-five  years 
after  the  last  Indians  had  used  it."'^  Bannock  Trail  was  the  special 
trail  of  the  Bannock  Indians  leading  from  their  home  area  around 
Henry  Lake  to  the  buffalo  country  east  of  Big  Horn."*' 

The  Bannock  Indians  were  the  last  Indians  raiding  in  Yellow- 
stone Park.  In  the  summer  of  1878  the  Bannocks  left  their  reser- 
vation in  Idaho  and  raided,  inter  alia,  in  the  National  Park.  They 
were,  however,  soon  defeated  by  General  Howard,  and  within  the 
Park  area  the  marauding  Indians  were  only  guilty  of  stealing 
horses.'^     Still  in  1879  smaller  bands  of  thieving  Indians  stayed 


THE  INDIANS  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK  141 

in  the  Park,  and  their  entrenchments  from  the  preceding  year 
made  of  wood  and  stone  could  be  seen  in  places. ^- 

SIOUAN  TRIBES  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK: 
CROWS  AND  DAKOTAS 

Three  or  four  centuries  have  probably  passed  since  the  Crow 
Indians  first  appeared  in  the  northern  and  eastern  border  districts 
of  Yellowstone  Park/-^  According  to  tradition  they  once  were 
one  tribe  with  the  Hidatsa  Indians  but  had  separated  from  the  main 
group  of  Hidatsa  at  the  Missouri  River  and  had  gone  westward 
until  they  occupied  the  country  around  the  Big  Horn  range  and 
Yellowstone  River  (which  they  called  Elk  River).  Several  things 
point  to  the  fact  that  during  their  wanderings  they  pushed  away 
the  Dukurikas  living  in  the  mountains. 

Apparently  two  bands  of  Crows,  the  one  identical  with  the  River 
Crows,  the  other  being  a  part  of  the  Mountain  Crows,  have  had 
closer  contact  with  Yellowstone  Park.  About  1855,  according 
to  Dsnig,  a  band  of  Crow  Indians  under  Two-Face  roamed  over 
the  mountainous  Wind  River  area  and  traded  with  employees  of 
the  American  Fur  Company  along  the  Yellowstone.  Another 
band  led  by  Bear's  Head  wandered  along  the  valley  of  the  Yellow- 
stone, from  the  mouth  of  the  river  to  its  source.  They  sometimes 
spent  the  winter  with  the  Assiniboin  Indians  and  traded  at  Fort 
Union.  Each  summer  the  entire  nation  had  rendezvous  when 
they  traversed  the  mountains  in  order  to  exchange  goods  for 
horses.  Denig  says,  "This  traffic  is  carried  on  with  the  Flat  Heads 
in  St.  Mary's  Valley,  or  with  the  Snake  (Shoshones)  and  Nez 
Perce  Indians  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Yellowstone."''^  For  the 
Crows  as  well  as  the  Plains  Shoshones  the  Park  area  may  have 
been  a  distant  outlying  land  of  the  tribe's  territory.  When  in  1882 
they  denounced  their  interest  in  the  Park,  they  only  received  re- 
muneration for  its  most  northern  part — the  strip  belonging  to 
Montana.  This  does  not  mean  that  they  did  not  ever  so  often 
visit  the  more  southern  parts  of  the  National  Park.  General 
Washburn's  expedition  in  1870  found  traces  of  Crow  Indians  and 
relics  of  fifteen  of  their  tipis  close  to  Tower  Falls. '^■"''  And  in  1863 
when  an  exploring  expedition  was  robbed  ©f  all  their  horses  by 
Indians  at  Cache  Creek  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  Park,^^ 
it  was  in  all  likelihood  the  Crows  who  did  it.  The  Crow  Indians 
were  horse  thieves  par  prejerance  in  this  part  of  the  Wild  West. 

In  the  middle  of  the  1 9th  century  the  Crow  Indians  were  pushed 
away  from  their  more  eastern  hunting  grounds  by  the  Teton 
Dakotas,  their  distant  language  relatives  and  their  bitter  enemies. 
The  front  bands  of  the  latter,  the  Oglala,  occupied  the  Powder 
River  country  sometime  between  1825  to  1850.  The  American 
historian.  Dr.  Grace  Raymond  Hebard,  maintains  that  the  Da- 
kota Indians — popularly  called  the  Sioux — exterminated  the  Du- 


142  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

kurika.''  Evidently  they  did  penetrate  clear  into  the  ranges  of 
the  Rockies.  Their  visits  to  the  Yellowstone  Park  were  however 
probably  very  infrequent.  There  were  two  possibilities  for  inva- 
sion: the  valleys  of  Yellowstone  or  Gallatin.  The  latter  valley, 
in  the  1860's  and  1870's  used  by  white  cowboys,  was  violently 
devastated  in  repeated  attacks  by  the  Sioux  who  had  reached  it 
from  the  Flathead  Pass  (east  of  Three  Forks,  north  of  Bozeman, 
Montana) — the  same  pass  used  by  the  Flatheads  and  the  Ban- 
no  :;ks  when  on  their  way  to  the  buffalo  districts  at  Musselshell, 
Missouri  and  lower  Yellowstone.''^  According  to  contemporary 
reports,  the  valley  of  the  Yellowstone  River  was  swarmed  by 
Sioux  in  the  1870's. 

THE  BLACKFEET  INDIANS  IN  THE  NATIONAL  PARK 

From  about  1800  the  Blackfeet  Indians  have  made  invasions 
into  Yellowstone  Park.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  1 8th  century 
they  continued  to  advance  southward  from  their  domains  just 
south  of  North  Saskatchewan  River,  and  pushed  the  Shoshones 
ahead  of  them  all  the  time.^-'  Gradually  single  bands  of  Blackfeet 
reached  the  Yellowstone  Park  (probably  along  the  Gallatin  and 
Yellowstone),  and  in  the  middle  of  the  19th  century  they  claimed 
the  plains  next  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  clear  down  to  Yellowstone 
Park.'**' 

The  Blackfeet  Indians  were  a  warlike  tribe,  well  known  because 
of  their  sneaking,  deceitful  warfare.  They  fought  all  tribes  but, 
the  Sarsi  and  the  Atsina,  and  in  the  years  1806  to  1870  the  whites 
(who  supported  the  Crow  Indians)  also  were  attacked.  About 
1830  the  Blackfeet  displayed  their  greatest  military  activity;  it  was 
then  they  molested  white  people  and  Indians  in  Yellowstone  Park. 
In  the  following,  two  accounts  will  be  given  of  the  Blackfeet  raids 
within  the  Park. 

In  September  1827  The  Philadelphia  Gazette  published  a  letter 
from  a  trapper  or  trader  who  earlier  that  year  had  been  surprised 
by  Blackfeet  Indians  in  the  area  of  Yellowstone's  springs.  The 
Indians  pursued  him  and  his  companions  all  the  way  to  the 
plains.**^ 

In  August  1839  the  trapper  Osborne  Russell  and  his  colleague 
were  surprised  by  Blackfeet  Indians  at  the  northern  end  of  Yellow- 
stone Lake.  "The  woods  seemed  to  be  completely  filled  with 
Blackfeet,  who  rent  the  air  with  their  horrid  yells."  Having 
resisted  for  a  while  the  rain  of  arrows  behind  trees  and  bushes, 
the  two  white  men  succeeded  in  dragging  themselves  to  the  lake 
without  being  discovered,  and  here  they  could  tend  their  wounds. 
The  following  day  the  Indians  still  swarmed  around  in  the  sur- 
roundings. The  two  white  men  found  a  third  trapper  who  said 
that  their  common  base  camp  had  been   attacked  by   Indians. 


THE  INDIANS  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK  143 

Slowly  all  of  them  succeeded  in  getting  away  from  the  dangerous 
area.^- 

The  bands  of  Blackfeet  appearing  now  and  then  within  the 
National  Park  were  fairly  large;  275  Indians  were  counted  in  the 
band  which  in  1845  pursued  Shoshonean  horse  thieves  to  the 
area  of  the  geysers.^-^ 

THE  PLATEAU  INDIANS  AND  THE  EVENTS  OF  1877 

It  is  not  stated  with  any  certainty  when  the  many  Indian  groups 
in  the  northwest — the  Plateau  Indians — for  the  first  time  got 
acquainted  with  the  geyser  country  amongst  the  mountains.  It  is 
known  that  the  Kalispel  Indians  and  the  Nez  Perce  visited  it 
sporadically,  but  it  is  also  testified  by  white  observers  that  these 
Indians  felt  at  a  loss  and  uneasy  in  those  peculiar  surroundings 
and  that  they  had  not  known  the  trails  or  the  country  of  the 
Park.^"^  And  still  the  Plateau  Indians  more  than  others  have  given 
Yellowstone  Park  a  name  in  the  Indian  history  of  war. 

In  June  1877  the  Nez  Perce  Indians,  a  mounted  tribe  in  western- 
most Idaho,  southeastern  Washington  and  northeastern  Oregon, 
belonging  to  the  Shahaptian  family,  had  dug  up  the  war  axe.  They 
were  discontented  with  the  whites'  proposition  that  they  should 
denounce  a  large  part  of  their  ancestral  hunting  grounds.  Nez 
Perce  in  Wallowa  Valley  rebelled  against  the  whites  under  the 
leadership  of  the  extraordinary  Chief  Joseph,  a  remarkable  Indian 
character.  At  last  he  was  forced  to  retreat  before  General  How- 
ard's attacks,  and  undertook  a  splendid  march  with  warriors, 
women  and  children,  all  mounted,  crossing  plains,  wild  mountains, 
tablelands  and  forests  towards  the  looming  buffalo  country  east 
of  upper  Missouri.  This  masterly  conducted  escape  that  has  been 
compared  with  the  retreat  of  the  ten-thousand  under  Xenophon, 
ended  unfortunately  in  northern  Montana,  close  to  the  Canadian 
border,  where  Joseph  and  his  little  band  were  surrounded  by  the 
whites  and  had  to  surrender.^-'^ 

In  these  dramatic  events  also  the  recently  created  National  Park 
was  drawn  in.  The  Nez  Perce  Indians  passed  through  the  Park 
area  in  the  end  of  August.  Via  Targhee  Pass  (close  to  the  West 
Entrance)  they  marched  into  the  Park,  following  Madison  River 
and  Firehold  River  to  the  Lower  Geyser  Basin,  where  they  cap- 
tured a  company  of  tourists  from  Radersburg,  Montana.  G.  F. 
Cowan,  the  leader  of  the  tourists,  was  badly  injured  and  left 
behind  for  dead;  he  was,  however,  later  rescued  by  General  How- 
ard's pursuing  group.  The  redskins  continued  their  journey  east- 
ward via  Nez  Perce  Creek,  Mary  Mountain  and,  probably.  Trout 
Creek,  until  they  reached  Yellowstone  River.  Here  the  main  body 
of  the  Indians  sought  the  nearest  ford  over  the  river,  at  Mud 
Geyser,  while  a  small  party  of  young,  pugnacious  Indians  con- 
tinued northward  along  the  western  shore.     At  Otter  Creek  they 


144  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

surprised  a  company  of  tourists  from  Helena,  Montana,  and  killed 
one  man;  the  rest  of  the  tourists  escaped  in  different  directions, 
most  of  them  to  Mammoth  Hot  Springs.  The  young  marauders 
continued  their  devastating  course  along  Yellowstone  River  via 
the  road  around  Mt.  Washburn,  burning  Baronett  Bridge  close  to 
Tower  Falls,  and  continuing  northward  close  to  three  miles  north 
of  the  border  of  the  Park.  Here  they  turned  back  and  attacked 
Mammoth  Hot  Springs  where  some  of  the  tourists  from  Helena 
still  remained;  one  of  them,  a  professor  Dietrich,  was  killed 
outside  the  hotel. 

The  way  the  Nez  Perce  Indians  took  from  Mud  Geyser  has 
not  been  ascertained.  It  seems  likely  that  after  having  crossed 
the  ford  they  followed  the  right  side  of  the  Yellowstone  river  up 
to  the  lake,  and  then  continued  northward  along  Pelican  Creek  and 
Lamar  River,  from  where  they  went  east  towards  Clark's  Fork 
either  along  Miller  Creek  or  along  Cache  Creek  (and  Crandall 
Creek).  General  Howard,  on  the  contrary,  turned  northward  at 
Mud  Geyser  following  the  Lamar  from  Tower  Junction,  and 
passed  out  of  the  Park  via  Soda  Butte  Creek. '^^ 

Not  only  tourists  but  also  miners  from  the  Black  Hills  were  in 
all  likelihood  killed  during  the  raid.  The  skeletons  of  miners  and 
their  horses  were  found  together  with  blankets  and  other  field 
equipment  close  to  the  Indian  line  of  retreat.'^^  Otherwise  the 
posthumous  reputation  of  the  Indians  is  very  good.  For  example. 
Superintendent  Norris  states  this:  "The  selection  of  their  camp 
sites,  and  their  rude  but  effective  fortifications,  their  valor  in 
conflict,  and  their  omission  to  scalp  the  dead  or  maltreat  the  living 
who  fell  into  their  hands,  indeed,  their  conduct  in  all  respects, 
proves  that  the  Nez  Perces  are  not  wanting  in  courage,  chivalry, 
or  capacity,  and  that  they  are  foemen  not  unworthy  of  the  noted 
military  officers,  Howard,  Miles,  Sturgis,  and  others,  who  have 
battled  against  them."^'^ 

THE  DEPARTURE  OF  THE  INDIANS 

From  the  American  side  several  counteractions  were  imme- 
diately put  into  effect  when  the  many  conflicts  with  the  Indians 
in  the  end  of  the  1870's  shook  the  position  of  the  whites  in  Yel- 
lowstone Park,  such  conflicts  as  the  war  of  the  Sioux  in  1875  to 
1877,  rebellion  of  the  Nez  Perces  in  1877,  and  the  raids  of  the 
Bannocks  in  1878.  Norris  had  defensive  arrangements  made 
against  possible  new  attacks;  for  instance,  the  headquarters  of 
the  superintendent  on  Capitol  Hill,  Mammoth,  was  constructed 
as  a  fortress.  At  the  same  time,  the  evacuation  of  Indians  in  the 
Park  was  hastened,  and  the  Park  was  officially  bought  from  the 
old  "owners",  the  Shoshones  and  the  Crows.  While  the  new 
fortifications  were  construed  as  a  protection  against  invasion  from 
unreliable  or  hostile  tribes  outside  the  Park  area,  the  other  mea- 


THE  INDIANS  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK  145 

sures  were  against  those  peoples  who  permanently  or  occasionally 
stayed  in  the  Park,  and  who  always  had  shown  friendliness  towards 
the  whites,  the  Plains  Shoshones,  the  Crows  and  the  Dukurika. 
It  was  hardest  for  the  latter  as  the  forests  and  mountains  of  the 
geyser  country  was  their  homeland  proper. 

Our  sources  do  not  give  any  unanimous  one  way  information 
about  the  departure  of  the  Dukurikas  because  the  documents  do 
not  distinguish  between  these  Indians  and  their  fellow  tribesmen 
of  the  same  denomination  outside  Yellowstone  Park:  the  Indians 
in  the  mountains  of  Idaho,  the  Indians  in  Wind  River  Mountains 
in  Wyoming,  etc.  In  all  likelihood  the  Dukurikas  from  the  Na- 
tional Park  have  been  brought  both  to  the  Lemhi  reservation 
and  to  the  Wind  River  reservation.  Possibly  they  belonged  to 
those  Dukurikas  who  in  1867  asked  the  government's  help  in  a 
difficult  situation. '"^^  One  information  says  that  the  Dukurikas 
from  Yellowstone  Park  belonged  to  those  Indians  who  about  1871 
arrived  at  the  Wind  River  reservation  in  Wyoming  whi::h  had  been 
established  three  years  earlier."*'  Some  years  later,  in  1875,  an 
executive  order  was  given  according  to  which  the  Shoshones, 
the  Bannocks  and  the  Dukurikas  should  go  to  the  Lemhi  reser- 
vation in  Idaho  close  ot  the  Montana  border  which  had  been 
prepared  for  them."^  In  all  likelihood,  this  order  has  also  referred 
to  those  Dukurikas,  who  still  hved  in  Yellowstone  Park — it  is 
even  likely  that  the  main  body  of  those  Dukurikas  were  brought 
to  Lemhi. '^-  At  the  same  time  there  is  positive  information  that 
the  last  Dukurikas  of  Yellowstone  Park  in  1879  were  moved  from 
the  Park  to  the  Shoshone  Reservation  in  Wyoming. ^'^ 

The  evacuation  from  Yellowstone  Park  of  the  Indian  people 
aimed  at  "averting  in  future  all  danger  of  conflict  between  these 
tribes  and  laborers  or  tourists."  Norris  was  very  active  in  trying 
to  make  a  treaty  between  the  Government  and  the  Indians  in 
question.  In  order  to  bind  the  Crows,  the  Shoshones,  the  Ban- 
nocks and  the  Dukurikas  to  the  new  Indian  policy  he  stayed  in 
1880  in  Washington;  shortly  after  he  visited  the  Indians  on  their 
reservations  and  got  their  promise  to  renounce  the  Park  and  not 
to  enter  the  area  beyond  Heart  Lake  (south  of  Yellowstone 
Lake).^'^    The  treaties  were  ratified  by  the  Congress  in  1882. 

In  this  way  ended  the  Indian  domination  of  Yellowstone  Park. 
Certainly,  it  had  not  been  very  noticeable  in  the  last  decade,  with 
exception  of  the  raids  by  the  Bannock  and  Nez  Perce  Indians. 
In  1870  a  member  of  the  Washburn  expedition  noted,  "The  only 
traces  of  Indians  we  had  seen  were  some  shelters  of  logs,  rotten 
and  tumbling  down  from  age,  together  with  a  few  poles  standing 
in  the  former  summer  camps;  there  were  no  fresh  trails  whatever. 
Appearances  indicated  that  the  basin  had  been  almost  entirely 
abandoned  by  the  Sons  of  the  forest."^^  In  August,  1877,  imme- 
diately before  the  invasion  of  the  Nez  Perce  Indians  into  the  Park, 


146  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

General  Sherman,  inspecting  the  area,  wrote,  "We  saw  no  signs 
of  Indians  .  .  .  Some  four  or  five  years  ago  parties  swarmed  to 
the  Park  from  curiosity,  but  now  the  travel  is  very  slack.  '"•'  Norris 
States,  that  in  1 879  still  some  Dukurikas,  Bannocks  and  Shoshones 
remained  in  the  Park.-''  But  his  important  report  from  the  year 
1880  testifies  in  several  ways  about  the  complete  final  evacuation 
of  the  last  Indians. 

FOOTNOTES  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1.  See  the  diary  of  the  expedition,  "The  Discovery  of  Yellowstone  Park, 
1870,"  written  by  the  first  Superintendent  of  the  Park,  N.  P.  Langford 
(1905).  Another  famous  expedition  was  undertaken  in  1871  to  1872  by 
the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  F.  V.  Hayden. 

2.  See  H.  M.  Chittenden,  The  Yellowstone  National  Park  (1918),  p.  1  ff. 

3.  P.  W.  Norris,  Ann.  Rep.  of  the  Superintendent  of  the  Yellowstone 
National  Park  for  the  Year  1880  (1881),  p.  36. 

4.  Cf.  R.  H.  Lowie,  The  Northern  Shoshone  (Amer.  Mus.  of  Nat.  His- 
tory, Vol.  11:2,  1909).  p.  206  and  J.  H.  Steward,  Culture  Element  Distri- 
butions XXIII,  Northern  and  Gosiute  Shoshoni  (Anthropol.  Records  8:3. 
1943),  pp.  263  f. 

5.  My  report  is  based  partly  on  studies  from  literary  sources  (manu- 
scripts; official  documents;  historical,  archaeological  and  ethnological  works; 
accounts  of  travels,  etc.),  partly  on  fieldwork  in  Yellowstone  Park  and 
Wind  River  Valley  (Wyoming),  1948  and  1955.  Reports  from  my  field 
trip  to  Wyoming  can  be  found  in  Ymer  1949,  No.  2  and  Ymer  1956,  No.  3. 
The  fieldwork  took  place  in  the  Park  in  August,  1948,  and  August,   1955. 

6.  The  following  sources  have  been  used:  C  M.  Bauer,  Yellowstone — 
Its    Underworld    (1948);    C.    W.    Thornthwaite,    The    Climates    of    North 
America  According  to  a  New  Classification  (The  Geographical  Review  21, 
1931);  Chittenden,  op.  cit.;  M.  Cary,  Life  Zone  Investigations  in  Wyoming' 
(North  American  Fauna  42,  1917). 

7.  Any  more  remarkable  climatic  fluctuations  do  not  seem  to  have 
occurred  since  the  birth  of  Christ,  that  is,  since  the  time  when  farming 
spread  over  the  central  parts  of  North  America.  Cf.  W.  R.  Wedel,  Some 
Aspects  of  Human  Ecology  in  the  Central  Plains  (Amer,  Anth.  55:4,  1953). 
p.  500. 

8.  See  for  instance  R.  Benedict,  Patterns  of  Culture  (1946),  p.  70.  See 
further  M.  W.  Smith,  The  War  Complex  of  the  Plains  Indians.  Proceed, 
of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  Vol.  78:3  (1937). 

9.  A.  D.  Krieger,  New  World  Culture  History:  Anglo-America  (in 
A.  L.  Kroeber,  Anthropology  Today,  1953),  p.  254. 

10.  Though  nothing  yet  has  been  published  about  the  archaeology  of 
the  Park,  it  is  likely  that  the  National  Park  Service,  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Interior.  Washington,  gradually  will  publish  orientation  about  it. 
See  International  Directory  of  Anthropological  Institutions  (1953),  p.  383  f. 
Every  information  about  time  given  in  the  following  must  be  considered 
hypothetical;  this  refers  not  in  the  least  to  the  diagnosis  made  with  radio- 
active charcoal  (C^'*). 

11.  See  for  instance  D.  Jenness,  Prehistoric  Culture  Waves  from  Asia 
to  America,  Smithson.  Rep.  for  1940.  An  American  archaeologist  has 
recently  wanted  to  dismiss  the  hypothesis  about  Bering  Strait  because  of 
negative  data  from  Alaska.  See  F.  Rainey,  The  Significance  of  Recent 
Archaeological  Discoveries  in  Inland  Alaska  (Mem.  9  of  the  Society  for 
American  Archaeology,  1953),  p.  43  ff. 

12.  Cf.  P.  S.  Martin,  G.  I.  Qnimby,  and  D.  Collier,  Indians  Before 
Columbus  (1948),  p.  20  f.,  81. 


THE  INDIANS  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK  147 

13.  About  the  migrations  of  the  Athapaskans,  see  J.  P.  Harrington, 
Southern  Peripheral  Athapaskawan  Origins,  Divisions,  and  Migrations, 
(Smiths.  Misc.  Coll.,  100),  1940,  and  B.  H.  &  H.  A.  Hitscher,  Athapaskan 
Migration  via  the  Intermontane  Region  (Amer.  Antiquity,  VIII:  1),  1942. 
About  the  Kiowas,  see  below. 

14.  See  E.  Antevs,  The  Great  Basin,  with  Emphasis  on  Glacial  and 
Post-Glacial  Times;  Climatic  Changes  and  Pre-White  Man  (Bull,  of  the 
Univ.  of  Utah,  33:20,  1948). 

15.  R.  F.  Heizer,  An  Assessment  of  Certain  Radiocarbon  Dates  from 
Oregon,  California,  and  Nevada  (Mem.  8  of  the  Soc.  for  American 
Archaeology),  p.  23  ff.  Cf.  also  the  description  of  the  Bonneville  culture 
by  G.  Willey  and  Ph.  Phillips  in  Amer.  Anthropologist  57  (1955),  p.  733, 
742,  749  f. 

16.  Cf.  /.  B.  Griffin,  Radiocarbon  Dates  for  the  Eastern  United  States 
(in  Griffin,  Archeology  of  Eastern  United  States,  1952),  p.  367  f. 

17.  E.  H.  Sellards,  Early  Man  in  America  (1952),  p.  132. 

18.  Sellards,  op.  cit.,  p.  74,  145.  Cf.  Griffin,  op.  cit.  p.  365.  Concerning 
the  new  method  of  dating,  see  the  short  resume  in  S.  Linne,  Radiocarbon 
Dates  (Ethnos  1950:3-4). 

19.  W.  Miilloy,  The  Northern  Plains  (in  Griffin,  Archeology  of  Eastern 
United  States,  1952),  p.  126. 

20.  Mulloy,  op.  cit.,  p.  128.  Cf.  E.  B.  Remind,  Archaeology  of  the 
High  Western  Plains  (1947),  p.  29,  104. 

21.  Mulloy,  op.  cit.,  p.  127. 

22.  W.  D.  Strong,  An  Introduction  to  Nebraska  Archeology  (Smiths. 
Misc.  Coll.,  93:10,  1935),  p.  224  ff.     See  also  Griffin,  op.  cit.  p.  366. 

23.  Griffin,  Archeology  of  Eastern  United  States,  fig.  205. 

24.  Krieger,  op.  cit.,  p.  254. 

25.  Renaud,  op.  cit.,  p.  64  ff. 

26.  W.  H.  Holmes,  Aboriginal  Pottery  of  the  Eastern  United  States 
(Bur.  of  Amer.  Ethnology,  Ann.  Rep.  20,  1903),  p.  194,  201. 

27.  See  Griffin,  Archeology  of  Eastern  United  States,  fig.  72  C;  cf.  also 
fig.  72  A,  73  E  and  76  H. 

28.  See  the  speculations  in  Griffin,  Radiocarbon  Dates  ....  p.  369. 
Dr.  Griffin  has  personally  informed  me  that  the  vessel  from  Yellowstone 
rather  has  been  brought  in  by  the  Crows  after  the  separation  from  the 
Hidatsa  (in  the  16th  century  A.D.?)  and  refers  to  the  Hagen  investigation 
by  Mulloy.  But  the  pottery  brought  in  by  the  Crows  to  the  upper  Yellow- 
stone area  is  the  type  Mandan-Hidatsa,  though  in  a  very  simplified  form 
(see  Mulloy,  op.  cit.,  p.  131  f).  And  how  would  it  be  possible  for  the 
Crow  Indians  to  retain  a  pattern  which  had  existed  a  thousand  years 
earlier  in  Illinois? 

29.  Cf.  Martin,  Quimby  and  Collier,  op.  cited.,  p.  72;  J.  B.  Griffin, 
Culture  Periods  in  Eastern  United  States  Archaeology  (in  Griffin,  Archeol- 
ogy of  Eastern  United  States,  1952),  p.  360;  S.  H.  Ball,  The  Mining  of 
Gems  and  Ornamental  Stones  by  American  Indians  (Bur.  of  Amer.  Eth- 
nology, Bulletin   128,    1941),  p.  52  ff. 

30.  See  W.  H.  Holmes,  Handbook  of  Aboriginal  American  Antiquities, 
Part  1  (Bur.  of  Amer.  Ethnology,  Bulletin  60,  1919),  p.  214  ff. 

31.  H.  C.  Shetrone,  The  Mound-Builders  (1930),  p.  65. 

32.  /.  C.  Alter,  James  Bridger  (1925),  p.  381.  Cf.  Ball,  op.  cit.,  p.  49. 
About  Obsidian  Cliff,  see  also  /.  E.  Haynes,  Handbook  of  Yellowstone 
National  Park  (49th  ed.,  1947),  p.  57  f.,  and  C.  M.  Bauer,  Yellowstone- 
Its  Underworld  (1948),  p.  37  f. 

33.  D.  E.  Wray,  Archeology  of  the  Illinois  Valley:  1950  (in  Griffin, 
Archeology  of  Eastern  United  States),  p.  154.  Unfortunately  there  has 
been  no  geological  determination  of  the  place  where  the  current  finds  of 
obsidian  were  quarried. 

34.  Griffin,  Culture  Periods,  etc.,  p.  355  f. 


148  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

35.  Martin,  Qidmby  and  Collier,  op.  cit.,  p.  291. 

36.  S.  W.  Pennypacker,  The  Problem  of  the  "Plummet-Stone"  (Amer. 
Antiquity  IV:  2,   1938),  p.  145. 

37.  G.  Fowke,  Stone  Art  (Bur.  of  Amer.  Ethnology,  Ann.  Rep.  13, 
1896),  p.  112. 

38.  Cf.  W.  R.  Wedel,  Culture  Sequences  in  the  Central  Great  Plains 
(Smiths.  Misc.  Coll.  100,  1940),  p.  311. 

39.  Krieger,  op.  cit.,  p.  255.     Cf.  Wedel,  op.  cit.,  p.  328  ff.,  346. 

40.  W.  Matthews,  Ethnography  and  Philology  of  the  Hidatsa  Indians 
(1877),  p.  19  ff.,  23. 

41.  Ball.  op.  cit.,  p.  52. 

42.  /.  Jahlow,  The  Cheyenne  in  Plains  Indian  Trade  Relations  (Mono- 
graphs of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,  XIX,  1951),  p.  21  ff.; 
/.  C  Ewers,  The  Indian  Trade  of  the  Upper  Missouri  before  Lewis  and 
Clark:  An  Interpretation  (Missouri  Historical  Society,  Bull.  10,  No.  4, 
1954). 

43.  See  R.  H.  Lowie,  Notes  on  Shoshonean  Ethnography  (Anthrop. 
Papers  of  the  Amer.  Mus.  of  Natural  History,  20:3,  1924),  p.  225. 

44.  /.  H.  Steward,  Native  Cultures  of  the  Intermontane  (Great  Basin) 
area  (Smiths.  Misc.  Coll.  100,  1940),  p.  463,  465  f.,  477. 

45.  D.  B.  Shimkin,  Shoshone-Comanche  Origins  and  Migrations  (Pro- 
ceed, of  the  6th  Pac.  Sc.  Congr.,  vol.  4,  1940),  p.  20. 

46.  Shimkin,  op.  cit.,  loc.  cit.;  cf.  also  Steward,  op.  cit.,  p.  479. 

47.  W.  L.  Bliss,  Birdshead  Cave,  A  Stratified  Site  in  Wind  River  Basin, 
Wyoming  (Amer.  Antiquity  XV:  3,  1950),  p.  187-196. 

48.  See  the  accounts  in  Shimkin,  op.  cit.,  p.  22,  and  in  /.  A.  Teit,  The 
Salishan  Tribes  of  the  Western  Plateaus  (Bur.  of  Amer.  Ethnol.,  44th  Ann. 
Rep.,  1930),  p.  304-305. 

49.  Hoebel  refers  these  Indians  to  a  special  category,  doyiane,  "moun- 
taineers", and  separates  them  thus  from  the  Dukurika  (E.  A.  Hoebel,  Bands 
and  Distributions  of  the  Eastern  Shoshone,  Amer.  Anth.  40:3,  1938, 
p.  410).  But  the  "mountain  people"  in  Yellowstone  Park  are  properly 
a  branch  of  the  Dukurika. 

50.  I  intend  to  publish  a  more  extensive,  technical  account  of  these 
Indians  and  their  culture.  This  is  the  main  reason  why  I  have  not  here 
given  an  account  of  my  literary  sources. 

51.  Cf.  F.  Haines,  The  Northward  Spread  of  Horses  among  the  Plains 
Indians  (Amer.  Anth.  40:3,  1938),  fig.  1,  p.  430. 

52.  Chittenden,  op.  cit.,  p.  7  f. 

53.  A.  Hultkrantz,  The  Indians  and  the  Wonders  of  Yellowstone 
(Ethnos  1954:   1-4,  Stockholm). 

54.  Norris.  op.  cit.,  p.  6,  38. 

55.  J.  E.  Haynes,  Handbook  of  Yellowstone  National  Park  (1947),. 
p.  130. 

56.  Norris,  op.  cit.,  p.  28. 

57.  Norris,  op.  cit.,  p.  7. 

58.  L.  C.  Cramton,  Early  History  of  Yellowstone  National  Park  (1932),. 
p.  137. 

59.  7.  R.  Swanton,  The  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America  (Bur.  of  Amer. 
Ethnology,  Bull.  145,  1952),  map  4,  p.  186.  Cf.,  however,  R.  H.  Lowie, 
Alleged  Kiowa-Crow  Affinities  (Southw.  Journal  of  Anthropology,  Vol.  9, 
No.  4,  1953). 

60.  See  /.  Mooney  in  Bur.  of  Amer.  Ethnology,  Bull.  30:1  (1907), 
p.  699. 

61.  D.  B.  Shimkin,  Wind  River  Shoshone  Ethnogeography,  AnthropoL 
Rec.  5:4  (1947),  p.  268. 

62.  Shimkin,  op.  cit.,  p.  247. 

63.  Teit,  op.  cit.,  p.  305. 


THE  INDIANS  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK  149 

64.  /.  B.  Tyrrell,  ed.,  David  Thompson's  Narrative  of  His  Explorations 
in  Western  America,  1784-1812  (Publ.  of  the  Champlain  Society,  vol.  12, 
1916),  p.  327  ff.     Cf.  A.  Hultkrantz,  in  Ymer  1956:3,  p.  166  f. 

65.  J.  H.  Steward,  Basin-Plateau  Aboriginal  Sociopolitical  Groups  (Bur. 
of  Amer.  Ethnology,  Bull.  120,  1938),  p.  188,  191. 

66.  Steward,  op.  cit.,  p.  191. 

67.  Steward,  op.  cit.,  p.  201,  203  f. 

68.  Steward,  op.  cit.,  p.  207. 

69.  Chittenden,  op.  cit.,  p.  8. 

70.  Norris,  op.  cit.,  p.  28;  Cramton,  op.  cit.,  p.  119. 

71.  See  Ann.  Rep.  of  the  Superintendent  of  the  Yellowstone  National 
Park  .  .  .  for  the  Year  1878  (1879). 

72.  Norris,  op.  cit.,  p.  33,  35. 

73.  Cf.  R.  H.  Lowie,  The  Crow  Indians  (1935),  p.  3  f. 

74.  E.  Th.  Denig,  "Of  the  Crow  Nation"  (Bur.  of  Amer.  Ethnol.,  Bull. 
151,  1953),  p.  24  f.  See  also  F.  V.  Hayden,  Contributions  to  the  Ethnog- 
raphy and  Philology  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  Missouri  Valley  (Trans- 
actions of  the  Amer.  Philosoph.  Society,  XII,  1863),  p.  394.  It  emerges 
that  Hayden  word  by  word  has  cited  Denig  (but  without  mentioning  his 
source),  as  pointed  out  by  the  editor  of  the  Denig  paper,  Dr.  J.  C.  Ewers 
(op.  cit.,  p.  17  f.). 

75.  Cramton,  op.  cit.,  p.   118. 

76.  Chittenden,  op.  cit.,  p.  58. 

77.  G.  R.  Hebard,  Washakie  (1930),  p.  118. 

78.  F.  V.  Hayden,  Sixth  Ann.  Rep.  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  of 
the  Territories  ...  of  Montana,  Idaho,  Wyoming,  and  Utah,  1872  (1873), 
p.  75. 

79.  J.  C.  Ewers,  The  Story  of  the  Blackfeet  (1944),  p.  17  ff. 

80.  Ewers,  op.  cit.,  p.  29. 

81.  Cramton,  op.  cit.,  p.  5  f. 

82.  Osborne  Russell's  Journal  of  a  Trapper,  ed.  by  A.  L.  Haines  (1955), 
p.  101  ff. 

83.  V.  Linford,  Wyoming  Frontier  State  (1947),  p.  251. 

84.  See  for  instance  Chittenden,  op.  cit.,  p.  37  ff.,  125,  132  footnote. 

85.  For  the  war  in  general  see  O.  O.  Howard,  Nez  Perce  Joseph  (1881), 
and  /.  Mooney,  The  Ghost-Dance  Religion  (1896),  p.  711  ff. 

86.  The  different  routes  used  in  the  war  have  been  reconstructed  accord- 
ing to  information  in  the  following  works:  Howard,  op.  cit.,  p.  239  ff., 
Chittenden,  op.  cit.,  p.  122  ff.,  Ann.  Rep.  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian 
Affairs  (1877),  p.  10  ff.,  Norris,  op.  cit.,  p.  33.  Cf.  also  Bauer,  op.  cit., 
p.  83  f.,  with  the  sources  cited,  and  M.  D.  Beal,  The  Story  of  Man  in 
Yellowstone  (1949),  pp.  165  ff. 

87.  Norris,  op.  cit.,  p.  33. 

88.  Norris,  op.  cit.,  loc.  cit. 

89.  Hebard,  op.  cit.,  p.  118. 

90.  A  letter  by  Superintendent  Haas  from  the  year  1929,  now  kept  in 
the  agency  at  Wind  River  Reservation. 

91.  C.  Royce,  Indian  Land  Cessions  in  the  United  States  (Bur.  of  Amer. 
Ethnology,  Ann.  Rep.  18:2,   1902),  p.  878. 

92.  Cf.  Norris,  op.  cit.,  p.  26. 

93.  D.  G.  Yeager  in  a  letter  from  1929,  now  kept  in  the  archive  of  the 
agency  at  Wind  River  Reservation. 

94.  Norris,  op.  cit.,  p.  3,  25. 

95.  Cramton,  op.  cit.,  p.  137. 

96.  Cramton,  op.  cit.,  p.  36. 

97.  Norris,  op.  cit.,  p.  33. 


Myer  Brothers  Ranch,  Uinta  County 
Stimson  photo,  Wyoming  State  Archives  and  Historical  Department 


0(/er  My  Shoulder 

Dictated  by 

Charles  A.  Myers 

to  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Marion  Paschal 

EDITOR'S  NOTE:  In  1857  John  Walker  Myers  settled  on  Bear 
River  at  what  was  later  known  as  Myers  Crossing  in  present-day 
Uinta  County,  Wyoming.  Mr.  Myers  first  used  a  horn  brand  for 
his  oxen,  but  as  he  acquired  a  small  herd  of  cattle  he  felt  the  need 
of  a  permanent  brand.  J.  V.  Long,  a  friend  from  Salt  Lake  City, 
suggested  that  for  Myers  it  would  be  appropriate  to  use  the  M 
Hook  in  Pittman  Shorthand.  Since  that  did  not  seem  to  be 
sufficient,  to  this  was  added  a  quarter  circle  which  was  later  em- 
bellished with  an  upturn  at  each  end.  Known  as  the  Mill  Iron 
Open  9,  this  brand  is  now  being  used  by  the  third  generation  and 
is  credited  with  being  the  oldest  -brand  in  Wyoming  which  has  been 
in  continuous  use  by  one  outfit.  ' 

To  commemorate  the  One-hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  found- 
ing of  the  Myers  ranch,  which  is  probably  the  oldest  Wyoming 
ranch  continuously  owned  by  one  family,  we  publish  here  the 
following  excerpts  from  a  longer  manuscript  which  Mr.  Charles 
A.  Myers  dictated  to  his  daughter  while  in  a  Salt  Lake  City 
hospital  in  1951.  All  rights  to  this  manuscript  and  article  are 
reserved  by  Mrs.  Paschal. 

FOREWORD 

Coyotes  very  often  frequent  a  ranch  during  the  hours  of  dark- 
ness, looking  for  meat  scraps,  offal  of  any  kind.  Just  before 
daylight  they  indulge  in  one  soul-satisfying  howl,  and  disappear 
into  the  hills. 

As  a  boy,  I  used  to  listen  to  them  in  the  hour  before  daylight 
and  think,  "As  soon  as  it's  light,  I'll  be  out  there  and  get  one." 
That  was  before  I  learned  that  they  don't  locate  themselves  by 
howling  until  they  are  just  ready  to  leave  the  vicinity. 

Following  this  philosophy ,  I  am  not  jotting  down  these  memoirs 
until  the  gathering  years  forewarn  that  I  must  soon  leave  these 
familiar  fields  for  the  Heavenly  Range — where  no  one  can  take 
a  shot  at  me! 

:  For  years  my  old  friends  like  Russell  Thorp  and  Elmer  Brock 
have  said  to  me,  "You  should  write  down  some  of  your  experiences 
and  your  yarns  and  ranch  history." 

And  I  have  as  often  replied,  "I  don't  want  to  get  to  looking 
back  over  my  shoulder  too  much,  lest  I  lose  my  hold  on  the 
present." 


152  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

But,  laid  up  for  three  months  in  a  hospital,  my  daughter  Marion 
has  finally  overpowered  me— and  here  are  some  of  the  happenings 
that  have  enlivened  the  past  eighty  years. 

Charles  A.  Myers 

My  father  was  an  Englishman,  most  of  whose  early  life  was 
very  hazy  to  me.  I  know  that  he  was  born  in  the  village  of 
Ardsley  in  Yorkshire,  March  5,  1825.  When  John  came  of 
proper  age,  13  or  14  years  old,  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  black- 
smith; but  six  months  or  so  later  father  and  son  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  smith  was  being  too  harsh  with  him  and  broke 
the  apprenticeship,  contracting  another  with  a  master  carpenter. 

I  know  that  he  came  to  America,  then  up  the  Mississippi  to 
St.  Louis  where  he  got  a  job  as  a  carpenter,  later  moving  on  up 
the  river  as  work  developed  and  building  several  houses  for  a  rich 
old  farmer  at  some  point  in  Illinois.  He  worked  this  way  for  a 
number  of  years.  I  always  take  pride  in  the  fact  that  his  work 
was  so  satisfactory  as  to  bring  it  in  continued  demand. 

All  except  a  few  of  the  major  facts  of  this  early  life  in  "the 
States"  are  entirely  unknown  to  me.  But  somewhere  along  the 
line  he  accepted  the  Mormon  faith  and  got  interested  in  migrating 
to  the  Utah  valleys,  finally  getting  three  yoke  of  cattle  and  a  wagon 
outfit  together  and  driving  them  across  the  plains  in  the  summer 
of  1855.  No  details  are  in  my  memory  of  his  settling,  except  that 
he  built  a  cabin  and  a  stable  for  his  pony. 

The  pony  had  to  be  stabled  at  night  and  locked  in  because . 
Indians  wanted  ponies,  not  slow  moving  cattle  useful  only  for 
meat!  They  had  plenty  of  other  meat — deer,  elk,  antelope,  sage 
chickens  and  for  many  years  prairie  hens,  as  distinct  from  sage 
hens,  also  grouse  of  many  varieties,  which  solved  the  meat  problem 
as  far  as  the  summertime  was  concerned. 

There  were  no  buffalo  in  the  Bear  River  Valley  even  at  that 
early  date,  though  skeletons  were  quite  plentiful.  When  my  father 
talked  to  such  Indians  as  old  Chief  Washakie  they  gave  him  to 
understand  that  the  buffalo  had  all  died  one  hard  winter  when 
the  snow  was  a  fanciful  number  of  "Indians"  deep,  and  had  never 
reoccupied  the  range.  This  date  was  definitely  fixed  as  1837. 
There  were  plenty  of  buffalo  further  east  and  south,  but  none 
within  the  area  where  they  would  winter  on  the  Muddy  and  the 
branches  of  the  Green  and  summer  on  the  upper  reaches  of  the 
Bear. 

One  of  the  opportunities  for  making  money  that  my  father 
observed  came  from  the  fact  that  at  times  in  the  spring  the  Bear 
River  got  dangerously  high,  and  being  a  stream  that  falls  from 
65-75  feet  to  the  mile  at  the  ranch  and  further  up  the  river,  it 
drives  along  with  terrific  force.  Any  reasonably  careful  driver 
would  prefer  to  pay  a  fair  sum  to  cross  safely  on  a  bridge,  rather 


OVER  MY  SHOULDER  153 

than  venture  into  the  stream.    So  my  father  and  his  partner  com- 
menced to  whipsaw  timber  for  a  bridge. 

Personally  I  am  sure  I  could  build  an  equally  strong  bridge 
and  leave  all  the  timbers  rough.  But  my  father  was  a  carpenter 
and  used  to  having  things  look  right,  so  he  "sawed  out"  the  floor- 
ing to  the  bridge.  To  the  cultured  youth  of  today  who  may  not 
know  anything  about  whipsawing,  I  will  say  that  to  accomplish  this 
purpose  a  log  is  placed  crossways  of  a  pit  deep  enough  to  have 
the  saw  extend  the  full  length  into  the  hole.  Then  one  man 
stands  on  a  scaffold  above  the  pit  and  another  in  the  pit.  They 
saw  lengthwise  of  the  log  and  produce  a  rough  edged  board — 
for  this  purpose  not  less  than  three  inches  thick.  You  can  imagine 
that  there  was  a  lot  of  sweat  that  went  into  that  bridge,  but  by 
spring  Father  had  it  finished  and  ready  for  traffic. 

There  was  a  lot  of  snow  in  the  timber  and  the  rise  of  the  stream 
was  sure  to  be  high,  but  until  that  time  came  the  wagon  trains 
(which  were  plentiful)  forded  the  river  without  trouble. 

I  wouldn't  have  you  think  for  a  moment  that  my  father  was  one 
of  the  blustering,  roistering,  six-shooter  type  of  man.  He  distinctly 
was  not.  But  he  had  a  lot  of  what  Winston  Churchill  would  call 
"blood,  sweat  and  tears"  in  that  bridge. 

One  evening  a  train  of  two  hundred  wagons  came  to  the  river 
just  at  dusk.  They  looked,  camped  and  hoped — for  a  recession 
in  the  waters.  But  when  morning  came  the  river  raged  even  more 
wildly.    So  the  wagon  boss  thought  he'd  try  another  tack. 

He  went  to  Father  who  was  at  the  bridge  and  said  that  he  was 
going  across  that  bridge  and  wasn't  going  to  pay  anything.  He 
said  he'd  heard  back  on  the  trail  that  there  was  "a  certain  fella 
up  a  ways  who  claimed  he'd  built  a  bridge  across  the  Bear  and 
was  charging  $1.50  a  wagon  to  cross." 

He  had  two  hundred  wagons  in  that  train  and  something  more 
than  two  hundred  teamsters.  They  weren't  use  to  having  anything 
put  over  on  them  and  didn't  propose  to  now.  Two  hundred  to 
one  would  seem  to  be  sufficient  odds  for  having  their  way,  and 
yet  they  didn't  have  it. 

Father  remembered  the  story  of  an  Irishman  penned  in  a 
stockade  during  a  certain  riot,  while  a  mob  outside  was  thirsting 
for  his  blood.  But  the  fellow  inside  had  an  Irish  mind,  and  just 
before  they  closed  in  on  him  he  shouted  at  them,  "I  kin  only  kill 
one  of  yez,  but  I  have  me  eye  on  the  wan  I'm  goin'  to  kill!" 

Father  thought  it  might  work  with  this  outfit.  He  said,  "Of 
course  there  are  enough  men  here  to  take  this  bridge  away  from 
me — but  the  first  man  that  sets  foot  on  this  bridge  dies!"  - 
;  Nobody  set  foot  on  the  bridge.  They  backed  away  and  the 
boss  said  he  didn't  believe  him;  but  he  paid  the  bridge  toll  of 
$1.50  a  wagon.  This  news  traveled  by  grapevine  just  as  fast  in 
the  old  days  as  now,  and  he  had  no  more  trouble  collecting  the 
toll  that  spring.  vJ  have  heard  some  of  the  fellows  who  knew  him 


154  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

in  those  old  days  say  that  he  had  to  come  home  three  times  a  day 
to  empty  his  pockets. 

My  father  has  told  me  that  in  the  winter  of  1858  he  worked  as 
a  carpenter  on  the  construction  of  the  fort  at  Bridger,  known  as 
Fort  Bridger.  Where  old  Jim  Bridger  and  his  two  squaws  were 
at  the  time  I  do  not  know. 

Where  my  father's  original  cattle  came  from  I  do  not  know. 
I  do  know  that  the  main  part  of  the  bunch  that  he  moved  to 
Milliard  and  back  to  the  ranch  were  of  Shorthorn  blood,  or,  as 
they  used  to  be  called,  "Durhams".  These  came  from  a  well 
bred  bunch  of  cattle  that  were  being  driven  through  the  country 
west  from  Colorado,  probably  headed  for  California.  The  owner 
had  quite  a  number  of  sore-footed  cows  and  calves.  These  he 
traded  to  father  for  yearhngs,  mostly  steers,  a  cow  and  a  calf  for 
each  yearling. 

At  the  ranch  he  didn't  seem  to  have  much  trouble  wintering 
them.  The  hills  immediately  to  the  east  of  us  produced  a  lot  of 
grass;  and  being  reasonably  steep  and  facing  the  sun,  grass  could 
normally  be  obtained  at  any  time  of  year.  Also,  he  put  up  a 
small  amount  of  hay. 

The  few  years  that  we  were  at  Hilliard,  Father  used  to  hire  the 
cattle  taken  sixty  miles  to  Henry's  Fork  of  the  Green  River  each 
winter.  A  French  Canadian  by  the  name  of  Joe  Pierette  drove 
them  to  his  place  in  the  fall,  ran  them  with  his  cattle  all  winter, 
and  brought  them  back  in  the  spring. 

I  remember  that  one  spring  he  failed  to  bring  one  yearling  home, 
so  he  replaced  her  with  a  yearling  heifer  of  his  own.  She  even- 
tually grew  as  wild  a  set  of  Texas  horns  as  I  ever  saw.  These 
horns  went  up  and  made  almost  two  complete  turns  before  they 
quit  growing!  We  had  this  cow  for  many  years — clear  down 
into  my  active  life.  She  had  many  calves  and  I  doubt  not  that 
her  blood,  diluted  ad  infinitum,  flows  in  the  veins  of  many  of  our 
present  herd.    She  was  known  as  "Old  Joe"  for  her  original  owner. 

At  another  time  the  man  who  had  hauled  Father's  original  stuff 
from  Hilliard  back  to  the  ranch  (Johnson)  had  a  blue-roan  heifer 
running  with  our  cattle.  He  came  to  the  ranch  one  morning 
riding  one  of  his  work  horses  and  carrying  a  rifle  and  went  over 
on  the  Millis  Mountain  to  kill  her  for  beef.  He  put  in  the  whole 
day  trying  to  get  close  enough  to  shoot  her  and  came  back  to  our 
ranch  that  night  much  discouraged.  He  made  Father  some  kind 
of  a  proposition  to  trade  the  heifer  for  something  he  could  get 
close  to — a  quarter  of  beef,  or  something  of  that  nature!  So 
father  added  another  heifer  to  our  herd. 

This  heifer  presented  no  problem  to  the  Myers  boys  for  we 
expected  all  our  cattle  to  run  from  us  on  sight — maybe  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  distant.  She  was  known  as  "Blue  Johnson"  and  I 
never  remember  her  staying  in  a  corral  over  night.  We  could 
drive  her  in  and  readily  keep  her  calf,  but  somehow  before  morning 


OVER  MY  SHOULDER  155 

she  always  managed  to  jump  or  break  out.     She  also  had  many 
calves,  and  the  calves  were  not  so  wild. 

It  must  be  understood  that  when  my  father  moved  back  to  the 
Bear  River  Ranch  [from  Hilliard  where  he  had  been  in  business] 
the  Valley  was  still  unsurveyed.  Consequently,  although  the 
Homestead  Law  had  been  passed  in  1862,  all  Father  had  was  a 
"squatter's  right",  but  that  was  enough  to  insure  him  160  acres. 
That  was  before  the  days  of  barbed  wire.  He  fenced  40  or  50 
acres  with  what  was  known  as  a  stake-and-rider  fence,  that  any 
able-bodied  cow  could  push  over.  However,  the  rails  made  great 
race  tracks  for  the  chipmunks,  which  one  rarely  sees  now  on  the 
ranch,  but  which  at  that  time  inhabited  it  by  the  thousands. 

It  was  in  this  way,  and  with  the  natural  increase  of  the  Shorthorn 
stuff,  that  we  finally,  after  many  years,  came  to  have  a  fairly 
numerous  holding.  But  I  well  remember  the  poverty  stricken 
years  when  with  low  prices  and  larger  needs  the  family  was  strug- 
gling to  get  the  number  of  hvestock  to  a  place  where  they  would 
really  support  us. 

:  Years  later,  in  1887  to  be  exact,  my  father  took  me  (a  boy  16 
years  old)  with  him  (to  Evanston?)  and  traded  a  number  five 
set  of  bob  sleds  to  Coughman  and  Morse  for  our  first  Hereford 
bull.  Two  years  later  he  traded  to  the  same  outfit  four  two-year- 
old  heifers  and  their  calves  for  two  purebred  Hereford  bulls  that 
were  of  Funkhauser  breeding.  Funkhauser  was  a  well  known 
breeder  of  Plattsburg,  Missouri. 

Joe  Coughman  of  the  firm  of  Coughman  and  Morse  had  been 
born  and  raised  in  Missouri  on  a  farm  close  to  the  Funkhauser 
farm.  When  the  urge  came  for  better  cattle  in  our  neighborhood. 
Coughman  brought  them  in. 

I  was  so  imbued  with  belief  in  the  whitefaces  that  the  Myers 
Land  and  Livestock  Company  (as  it  was  later  known)  never 
turned  back  to  Shorthorns. 

We  used  to  ship  one  load  of  cattle  or  more  to  Omah^  annually 
On  one  of  these  annual  trips,  I  went  on  to  Plattsburg  and  got 
acquainted  with  Funkhauser.  I  bought  a  bull  calf  from  him 
which  he  crated  and  put  on  the  cars  for  me.  On  reaching  home, 
and  in  subsequent  months,  I  realized  that  this  bull  wasn't  what 
we  wanted.  So  the  following  year  I  went  to  Funkhauser  at 
Plattsburg  again.  I  bought  a  bull  called  Hesiod  56  by  Hesiod  2nd. 
Hesiod  2nd  at  that  time  had  more  of  his  sons  heading  purebred 
herds  than  any  bull  in  the  United  States.  Hesiod  56  was  indeed 
a  beautiful  calf. 

Cattle  were  tragically  cheap  at  that  time,  but  I  had  shipped 
eight  head  of  my  privately-owned  three-year-old  steers  and  one 
cow  to  the  Omaha  market  a  few  days  before.  These  steers 
weighed  a  little  better  than  1300  pounds  and  were  shipped  in 
with  a  load  belonging  to  my  father.     They  netted  me  right  at 


156  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

$50.00  a  head.  I  put  the  whole  eight  head — $400.00 — into  the 
calf,  Hesiod  56.    The  price  of  the  cow  got  him  home! 

I  believed,  and  still  believe,  that  Funkhauser  was  doing  me  a 
real  favor  to  sell  him  to  me  at  this  price;  but  he  seemed  to  be 
very  much  interested  in  what  I  was  able  to  tell  him  of  our  plans. 
That  bull  did  us  more  good  than  any  animal  that  ever  came  to 
the  ranch. 

In  relation  to  the  price  of  my  eight  fat  steers,  I  would  like  to 
quote  an  item  on  the  front  page  of  an  Omaha  market  paper  on  the 
date  of  their  sale  (this  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  things  in  the 
whole  deal)  which  said,  "The  market  is  not  to  be  judged  by  the 
sale  of  these  Myers  cattle.  They  were  a  strictly  fancy  bunch,  and 
brought  a  strictly  fancy  price." 

We  cut  out  a  bunch  of  our  best  cows,  tattooed  a  number  in  their 
ears,  and  hand-bred  them  to  this  little  bull  the  following  year. 
He  actually  got  us  43  calves  that  year,  although  he  was  only  an 
April  yearling,  and  we  bred  the  cows  in  July  and  August.  In  the 
following  years  we  handled  him  very  carefully  and,  as  I  say,  got 
more  good  out  of  him  than  any  animal  that  ever  came  to  the  ranch. 

The  Myers  ranch  has  three  "oldest"  firsts  of  which  it  may  be 
proud — the  oldest  brand,  ranch  and  water  right.  Such  men  as 
David  Miller  of  Rock  Springs,  who  was  our  water  master  for 
southwestern  Wyoming,  says  that  the  1 862  water  right  for  the 
older  portion  of  the  Myers  ranch  is  the  oldest  water  right  in  the 
State. 

The  original  ranch  consisted  of  four  forties  in  a  string.  As  I 
think  I  said  somewhere  else,  it  was  taken  up  five  years  before  the 
homestead  law — which  came  out  in  1862 — so  it  was  taken  up 
under  what  was  termed  "squatter's  right".  When,  a  number  of 
years  later  it  was  finally  surveyed,  all  that  was  necessary  to  make 
it  conform  to  the  government  survey  was  to  drop  off  about  1/8 
mile  at  the  north  end,  add  that  much  at  the  south,  and,  of  course, 
go  through  the  form  of  entry  under  the  Homestead  Act. 

I  don't  know  that  it's  any  credit  to  an  outfit  to  say  that  they 
have  stayed  ninety-four  [1951]  years  in  one  location,  but  it 
shows  that  they  must  have  been  reasonably  honest  or  they  would 
have  been  run  out  of  the  country  before  this  time. 


Old  Wyoming  Postoffiees 

By 
Colonel  Norman  D.  King 

Many  of  Wyoming's  old  and  now  defunct  postoffiees  were 
named  after  geographical  features.  Little  Horse  Creek  (Lara- 
mie), Hatcreek  (Niobrara),  Big  Sandy  (Sublette),  Wind  River 
(Fremont),  Bearcreek  (Converse),  Boxelder  (Converse),  and 
Badwater  (Natrona)  are  old  postoffiees  named  after  streams. 
Coldspring  in  Converse  county  was  just  that,  a  cold  spring.  Slide 
in  Teton  County  was  at  the  site  of  the  famous  Gros  Ventre  slide 
on  the  river  of  the  same  name.  Kortes  Dam,  an  office  of  short 
life,  was  at  the  Kortes  Dam  in  Carbon  County,  and  of  course  all 
travelers  remerriber  the  Split  Rock  near  the  Sun  Ranch  on  the 
Sweetwater.    That  was  the  site  of  the  Split  Rock  postoffice. 

Several  old  postoffiees  were  named  after  cattle  ranches  of  the 
old  days.  There  was  Anchor  (Hot  Springs),  Goose  Egg  (Na- 
trona), Pitchfork  (Park),  Dumbell  (Park),  Circle  (Fremont), 
Camp  Stool  (Laramie)  and  Painter  (Park)  to  mention  a  few. 

It  is  also  interesting  to  know  that  some  modern  postoffiees  had 
predecessors  of  the  same  name  but  different  location.  There 
was  a  Midwest  in  Hot  Springs  County,  and  Douglas  in  Carbon 
County,  both  preceding  the  offices  of  today.  Atlantic  City  in 
Fremont  County  was  defunct  in  the  1923  scheme  but  thirty  years 
later  it  was  back  and  active.  Lost  Spring  in  Converse  County 
is  gone  but  is  now  known  as  Lost  Springs.  They  must  have  found 
another? 

Military  posts  gave  their  names  to  many  old  postoffiees.    Prob- 


AUTHOR'S  NOTE:  The  early  history  of  Wyoming  prior  to  1925  is 
reflected  in  the  old  postoffiees  which  once  dotted  the  land.  When  it  was 
suggested  that  I  might  write  an  article  about  these  early  offices,  I  was 
intrigued  by  the  idea  but  it  immediately  became  a  challenge.  As  an 
Examiner  for  the  Railway  Mail  Service  prior  to  entering  military  service, 
I  had  accumulated  much  data  on  these  early  offices,  by  research  and  by 
the  kindly  help  of  two  Wyomingites  who  were  associated  with  the  early 
development  of  the  postal  service  in  this  state.  I  refer  to  William  G.  Haas 
and  Hugh  Coffman.  If  this  article  need  be  dedicated  to  anyone,  it  is 
dedicated  to  them,  and  for  their  kindly  assistance.  Others  who  contributed 
were  WilHam  M.  Goss,  David  R.  Kinport,  Albert  J.  Miller,  Walter  H. 
Yeager,  and  others.  Unfortunately,  the  list  so  prepared  was  lost  during 
the  war  years,  and  now  I  must  rely  on  research  second  hand,  and  a  not- 
too-good  memory  to  try  and  restore  some  of  this  information.  I  realize 
that  I  run  the  risk  of  being  reminded  that  such  and  such  a  statement  about 
such  and  such  a  postoffice  is  wrong,  but  in  so  doing,  we  shall  get  the  facts. 
And  so  to  work. 


158  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

ably  the  oldest  post  offices  in  the  state  now  active  are  at  Fort 
Bridger  and  Fort  Laramie,  although  the  military  posts  which  gave 
them  their  names  have  long  since  gone.  Fort  McKinney  (John- 
son), Fort  Mackenzie  (Sheridan),  Camp  Brown  (Fremont),  Fort 
Fetterman  (Converse),  Fort  Sanders  (Albany)  and  Fort  Russell 
(Laramie),  all  once  knew  the  bugle  call  and  the  military  cadence. 
And  Fort  Russell  (now  known  as  Francis  E.  Warren  Air  Force 
Base)  is  still  a  military  post,  but  the  others  have  long  ceased  to 
function  as  military  establishments.  Of  Fort  Reno  there  is  no  sign, 
but  Fort  Caspar  has  a  park  and  reproduction  to  remind  us  of  the 
Iri)dian  days. 

i Mining  produced  many  postoffices  now  long  since  abandoned, 
while  South  Pass  City  and  Atlantic  City  remain,  where  is  Miner's/ 
/  Delight  and  Pacific  Springs,  all  in  the  same  area?  And  where  is 
[  Hecla  in  Laramie  County?\  Or  Frederick  in  Goshen  County?  In 
Hhe  early  190()'s  the  Encainpment  area  was  active.  How  many 
recall  the  old  overhead  tramway  that  brought  the  ore  down?  Or 
the  old  post  offices  that  served  that  mining  area?  Battle,  above 
Battle  Lake  where  Edison  is  reputed  to  have  discovered  the  fila- 
ment for  his  incandescent  lamp,  and  Copperton.  Or  Dillon, 
Riverside  and  Rambler.  And  somewhere  in  this  area,  so  "Bill" 
Haas  used  to  tell  me,  was  the  mining  town  known  as  Rudefeha 
and  named  after  the  3  Irishmen  (Deal,  Ferris  and  Haggarty)  who 
with  James  Rumsey  founded  the  mining  town  and  gave  it  as  its 
name  the  first  two  letters  of  each  name.  And  in  Sheridan  County 
three  old  mining  towns  were  Monarch,  Dietz  and  Carneyville. 
And  below  Kemmerer  in  Lincoln  County  was  Cumberland, 
Blazon,  Glencoe  and  Wyotah. 

When  the  railroads  came,  the  post  offices  came  also  and  when 
the  railroad  folded,  some  postoffices  did  likewise.  When  the 
C&NW  from  Chadron  west  gave  up  the  ghost,  with  it  into  limbo 
went  Bucknum  (Natrona),  Waltman  (Natrona),  Vonnie  (Fre- 
mont), Wolton  (Natrona),  and  Careyhurst  (Converse).  And 
Jireh  (Niobrara)  too.  But  then  Jireh  was  already  on  its  way  out, 
after  the  ilifated  attempt  to  found  a  university 'in  that  small  settle- 
ment. When  the  railroad  to  the  Salt  Creek  oil  fields  folded,  the 
ilifated  North  and  South  Railroad,  with  it  went  llico-  (from  a 
trade  name)  in  Natrona  County.  Other  small  lines  folded  and 
with  them  went  many  a  postoffice.  The  Bellefourche  &  Aladdin, 
the  Cambria  &  Newcastle,  Kemmerer  &  Cumberland,  are  gone 
and  more  recently  the  Clearmont  &  Buffalo  was  discontinued. 
Famous  Uva  in  Platte  County,  long  a  stage  station  on  the  Laramie 
River,  is  no  more,  and  on  the  same  line  of  the  Colorado  & 
Southern  went  Bordeaux  and  Diamond. 

Indian  names  are  not  prominent  in  the  old  postoffices  that  have 
died.  But  there  was  Inyankara  (Crook)  which  was  named  after 
Inyankara   Butte.     On   No  Wood  Creek   in   Washakie   County, 


OLD  WYOMING  POSTOFFICES  159 

only  Ten  Sleep  remains,  since  No  Wood  and  Big  Trails  have  long 
since  bit  the  dust. 

People  prominent  in  Wyoming  history  have  given  their  names 
to  our  old  postoffices.  Underwood  (Laramie),  Bishop  (Natrona), 
Knight  (Uinta),  Metzler  (Fremont),  Mondell  (Lincoln),  Gramm 
(Albany),  Labonte  (Converse),  and  Gallio  (Laramie)  were  all 
names  of  people  famous  in  the  state.  "Albin"  Anderson,  founder 
of  Albin  in  Laramie  County,  told  me  that  Gallio  was  named  after 
Gallio  C.  Connolly  an  early  settler.  Lavoye,  a  company  oil  town 
(Natrona)  was  named  for  Louis  Lavoye,  an  original  homesteader 
of  the  area,  and  Lindbergh,  less  than  20  miles  away,  was  founded 
in  the  30's  and  named  for  "you  know  who!" 

When  the  Union  Pacific  drilled  the  Aspen  Tunnel  through  the 
mountain  in  Uinta  County,  a  postoffice  was  founded  at  each  end, 
Akwenasa  at  the  west  and  Aspentunnel  at  the  east  end,  both  now 
discontinued. 

An  apocryphal  story  but  very  likely  true.  At  least  "Bill  Haas 
told  me  and  he  should  know.  When  the  settlers  on  the  Gros 
Ventre  River  in  Lincoln  County  applied  for  a  postoffice  and  the 
inspector  came,  they  told  him  they  wanted  it  named  "Gros  Ventre" 
but  they  pronounced  it  "Grovont"  which  he  wrote  down,  and 
which  it  became.  So  rather  than  argue,  1  guess  they  left  it  at 
Grovont. 

And  of  course  Teapot  in  Natrona  County  was  named  after  the 
famous  Teapot  Dome. 

But  many  unusual  post  office  names  remain  to  intrigue  our 
curiosity.  What  was  the  origin  of  Pleazel  in  Goshen  County? 
And  was  Braae  in  Converse  County  named  by  a  Scotsman?  Or 
Tipperary  in  Fremont  by  an  Irishman?  Parco,  a  company  town 
in  Carbon  County,  was  of  course  an  abbreviation  for  Producers 
&  Refiners  Corporation  which  founded  it.  Was  Goldsmith  in 
Laramie  named  after  Oliver?  Or  Verse  in  Converse  by  a  poet 
iOr  did  they  just  take  5/8  of  the  county's  name?  Poposia^  a  Crow 
Indian  word  for  "head  waters",  in  Fremont  County  was  no  doubt 
named  for  the  springs  on  the  Popo  Agie  River.  Another  curiosity 
was  Alta  in  back  of  the  Tetons,  and  accessible  only  thru  Idaho. 
Other  odd  names  confront  us — where  and  how  did  they  get  their 
names?  Readers  may  help.  Divide  in  Laramie  County.  Punteney 
in  Hot  Springs.  Bonnidee  in  Johnson.  And  Neble  (Fremont), 
Emigh  (Campbell),  Rex  (Albany),  Difficulty  (Carbon),  and 
Nefsy  (Weston).     That  last  one  has  always  puzzled  me. 

But  having  considered  the  old  post  offices,  the  active  ones  also 
have  played  their  part  and  are  still  on  the  scene.  Jay  Em  is  of 
course  a  ranch.  Veteran  alludes  to  the  veteran  land  filing  in 
Goshen  county.  And  now  I  see  that  Hell's  Half  Acre  is  with  us. 
And  with  that  we  should  close. 


1.  Remains  of  outlaw  corral  on  Middle  Fork  of  the  Powder. 

2.  Outlaw  corral  on  Backus  Creek 

3.  Outlaw  corral  hidden  in  trees 

4.  Outlaw  fireplace  on  Eagle  Creek 

5.  Old  dugout  used  by  Butch  Cassidy  gang,  Middle  Fork  of  Powder  River. 

6.  Cowboys  using  a  "running  iron." 

— Courtesy  Thelma  Gatchell  Condit 


Zhe  Mole-iH-the-  Wall 

By 
Thelma  Gatchell  Gondii 

PART  V,  SECTION  1 :    OUTLAWS  AND  RUSTLERS 

The  Middle  Fork  of  the  Powder  River  country  in  the  late  '80's 
and  early  '90's  had  again  become  a  battleground — no  longer  was 
it  the  isolated  grassland  of  the  big  cow-outfits,  where  the  long- 
horns  grazed  at  will — no  longer  was  it  a  vast  public  domain  to  be 
exploited  for  big  cattle  profits.  Suddenly  it  had  ceased  to  be  the 
last  frontier.  A  new  type  of  thing  had  come,  an  unbeatable  thing. 
Again  men  fought  for  the  land — this  time,  white  men  against 
white  men;  but  now  with  a  difference,  a  good  difference;  for  the 
home-making,  "settling-down"  type  of  men  had  put  in  an  appear- 
ance with  taking  up  land  in  mind.  After  the  excitement  and  period 
of  unrest  following  the  Indian  Wars  and  the  Texas  Trail  days  many 
men  decided,  and  rightly,  that  the  Powder  River  country  was  a 
place  valuable  in  itself,  where  men  might  live  and  prosper  mod- 
estly, where  they  could  establish  a  home  and  have  a  family  and 
settle  down  to  normal  living. 

Many  of  these  men  were  cowboys  out  of  work,  who  wanted  to 
get  together  a  Uttle  bunch  of  cattle  of  their  own.  This  was  hard 
to  do,  for  the  big  cattlemen  had  all  the  political  and  financial 
advantage,  the  laws  were  his  laws,  the  towns  springing  up  were 
his  towns,  and  he  proposed  to  be  boss  over  all  he  surveyed.  How- 
ever, he  could  not  afford  to  buy  this  vast  expanse  of  land  upon 
which  his  cattle  grazed,  and  he  could  not  then  lease  the  public 
domain.  It  was  sticking  to  these  isolated  areas  that  was  important, 
for  when  his  isolation  was  greatest,  his  financial  rewards  were 
most  satisfying. 

The  big  cowman  fought  hard  to  keep  the  land,  but  from  the 
beginning  he  was  doomed  to  failure.  Times  were  changing  and 
his  downfall  was  inevitable.  Two  things  which  he  failed  to  see 
were  his  undoing.  First,  he  didn't  fully  understand  the  cow 
business,  and  secondly  he  under-estimated  the  deep  purpose  of 
these  little  cowmen,  who  were  for  the  most  part  skilled  cowhands, 
who  not  only  knew  cow  and  horse  critters,  but  also  knew  every 
inch  of  the  ground  over  which  they  grazed. 

The  year  1892  was  one  never-to-be-forgotten  in  Johnson  Goun- 
ty.  It  was  the  year  of  the  Gattlemen's  War.  This  time  it  was 
an  unofficial,  undeclared  war,  fought  without  the  consent  of  the 
Government,  but  no  less  deadly  for  all  of  that.  It  was  a  "class" 
war,  a  struggle  between  big  cowmen  and  small  landowners  and 


162 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


small  cowmen.  Both  sides,  naturally,  believed  they  were  right. 
The  big  outfits  called  the  small  ranchers  rustlers,  and  the  small 
outfits  charged  the  big  ones  with  illegally  pre-empting  all  the 
grazing  country  and  starving  them  out. 

Under  such  circumstances  there  grew  to  be  an  antipathy  so 
bitter  between  the  two  factions  that  it  soon  was  regarded  semi- 
ethical  to  prey  relentlessly  upon  the  opposing  side.  The  small 
cowmen,  filing  on  the  land,  were  now  right  on  the  very  ground, 
and  their  individual  activity  coupled  with  their  staunch  resolve 
made  up  for  what  they  lacked  politically  and  financially.  It  was 
a  simple  case  of  divergence  of  feeling  and  a  difference  of  aims 
so  wide  that  anything  was  considered  fair  which  operated  to  the 
disadvantage  of  the  opposing  side. 

The  Powder  River  was  the  scene  of  events  and  killings  which 
created  upheavals  beyond  belief  between  neighbors  and  in  the 
very  families  themselves.  Those  in  the  two  opposing  factions,  or 
most  of  them,  were  courageous,  honest  men  fighting  for  what 
they  believed  were  their  just  rights.  Grievous  as  were  many  of 
the  things  that  happened  on  both  sides,  justification  is  due  in 
part  because  of  the  sincerity  of  purpose.  On  a  smaller  scale, 
of  course,  this  period  is  comparable  to  slavery  and  Civil  War 
days  in  the  south;  both  sides  partly  right,  both  sides  partly  wrong, 
and  it  has  left  deep,  never-to-be  healed  scars  along  the  Powder. 

It  is  unwise,  as  well  as  futile,  to  moralize  or  try  to  find  sense 
to  it.    All  that  should  be  stressed  is  the  intense  turbulence  of  the 


THE  HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  163 

times,  and  a  realization  that  it  took  ruthless  measures  to  survive 
during  that  period.  Every  man,  whoever  he  was,  was  caught  in 
an  unfavorable  situation,  where  he  had  to  decide  himself,  often 
against  his  better  judgement,  what  course  he'd  take,  whether  good 
or  bad.  The  frontier  was  gone,  the  glamorous  wolfing  &  trail- 
herd  days  were  over,  and  a  change  was  in  the  making. 

Then  to  add  more  fuel  to  the  already  flaming  blaze,  as  is 
always  the  case  in  times  of  basic  economic  trouble,  a  really  lawless 
element  arrived,  with  no  honest  part  in  the  fuss  and  no  cause  to 
fight  for — just  the  rough-neck  characters  who  live  on  excitement 
outside  the  law  and  are  ever  seeking  newer,  "farther-removed" 
places  for  their  shady  deals.  These  men  might  easily  b3  dubbed 
the  "carpet-baggers"  of  the  West. 

Unfortunately,  during  and  after  the  "Invasion",  Johnson  County 
was  acclaimed  far  and  wide  as  a  den  of  thieves,  rustlers  and 
outlaws,  who  brazenly  scoffed  at  any  semblence  of  conformity  to 
law  and  order.  In  the  intense  frenzy  of  the  times  the  little  cow- 
men, the  homesteaders,  and  the  rustlers  and  outlaws  became 
synonymous.  All  small  operators  immediately  became  objects  of 
suspicion  as  being  in  "cahoots"  with  all  that  was  wrong  with  things. 
The  very  fact  that  they  had  a  cabin  and  a  cow  automatically  made 
them  a  rustler  willing  to  harbor  the  worst  of  outlaws.  In  spite 
of  any  argument  to  the  contrary,  no  one  person  will  ever  know 
the  whole  truth.  Why,  a  man  couldn't  tell  for  sure  whether  his 
neighbor  was  friend  or  foe;  he  couldn't  even  swear  that  his  own 
son  was  not  a  rustler  or  horse  thief;  and  no  doubt,  he  found 
himself  wondering  why  he,  too,  was  doing  some  of  the  things 
he  did. 

Then  it  was  that  the  grossly  exaggerated  tales  of  the  infamous 
Hole-in-the-Wall  were  spread  far  and  wide.  It  became  known  as 
the  impregnable  hide-out  of  the  most  lawless  element  in  the  entire 
Rocky  Mountain  area.  Regardless  of  the  magnification  of  reports 
and  rumors  certain  facts  did  stand  out  clearly  and  truthfully  about 
this  place.  Never  was  there  a  more  perfect  setting  for  an  outlaw 
gang  than  the  Hole-in-the-Wall.  It  was  "God-made",  it  seemed, 
just  for  cattle  rustling,  full  of  box  and  blind  canyons  for  hiding 
animals;  plenty  of  easy  escapes  and  high  places  for  seeing  all  the 
surrounding  country.  It  was  made  specially  to  hide  in,  and  fight 
"Indian-style".  These  reckless-living  cowboys  would  have  missed 
an  ideal  opportunity  had  they  failed  to  make  use  of  such  a  place, 
since  they  were  bent  on  leading  this  kind  of  life,  anyway.  There 
is  ample  verification  for  saying  that  there  is  no  place  in  the  world 
like  the  Hole-in-the-Wall  country;  and  for  a  very  short  time  it 
was  used  advantageously  by  men  who  matched  its  ruggedness,  by 
men  who  deliberately  chose  reckless,  dangerous,  hard  living,  and 
who  were  indeed  quite  capable  of  facing  and  using  the  toughest 
envrionment.     It  certainly  isn't  necessary  and  perhaps  not  even 


164  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

desirable  to  think  of  the  right  or  wrong  of  the  thing;  nor  is  it 
essential  to  either  approve  or  disapprove.  These  men  should  be 
admired,  even  if  grudgingly,  for  taking  advantage  of  a  particular 
environment  at  an  opportune  time  and  doing  a  thoroughly  good 
job  of  what  they  set  out  to  do.  They  were  rugged  individualists 
who  asked  no  favors  and  expected  none  in  return. 

In  short,  they  were  the  fellows  who  didn't  want  to  give  up  the 
adventuresome  life — they  just  couldn't  settle  down  to  calm  living, 
they  couldn't  bear  to  conform.  They  were  like  the  Negro  woman 
who  said,  "The  trouble  with  life,  it's  so  darned  daily".  They 
wanted  to  pep  it  up  with  excitement  and  were  willing  to  work 
hard  at  rustling  or  thieving  in  order  to  provide  themselves  with 
that  seemingly  desirable  dangerous  living.  And  don't  think  for 
a  minute  that  this  kind  of  life  was  an  easy  way  to  make  money — 
it  wasn't.  It  was  beset  with  danger  and  the  most  laborious  work, 
all  of  which  they  figured  was  worth  it  in  order  to  spend  freely 
and  gayly,  perhaps  all  in  one  night  at  some  road-ranch  or  saloon. 
They  were  a  peculiar  bunch.  They  didn't  want  money  for  money's 
sake,  just  for  the  fun  of  getting  it  in  an  exciting  way.  Another 
unusual  thing — good  cowboys  were  thus  associated  with  real  out- 
laws and  everything  was  all  mixed  up.  Who  was  doing  what  and 
why?    And  where? 

The  first  rustlers  and  outlaws  on  the  Powder  were  out-of-work 
cowboys — some  good,  some  bad — most  of  them  Texans  by  birth 
"all  born  behind  a  cow  with  a  six-shooter  in  their  hand".  As 
said  before  they  knew  the  cow  and  the  "cow-country"  and  they 
knew  every  divide  and  creek  and  canyon,  every  draw  and  gulch  " 
and  water-hole  by  heart;  born  and  raised  on  large  open  ranges, 
isolated  from  practically  everything  but  cattle,  they  came  to  under- 
stand the  habits  and  traits  of  cow  critters  as  no  one  else  did.  They 
led  a  rough  life  with  a  very  limited  chance  to  better  their  moral 
or  mental  condition.  They  were  really  in  a  class  by  themselves 
with  a  philosophy  of  life  all  their  own — truly  a  frontier  product, 
reluctant  to  obey  any  law  but  their  own;  and  far  too  independent 
to  conform  to  laws  and  restrictions  they  saw  no  sense  in. 

They  brought  many  Texas  customs  to  the  Powder  River  country, 
as  told  by  Granville  Stuart  in  his  Forty  Years  on  the  Frontier 
(Vol.  2)  Quote: 

"In  the  early  range  days  the  Texas  system  of  everybody's  placing 
his  brand  on  every  calf  found  unbranded  on  the  range,  without 
even  trying  to  ascertain  to  whom  the  animal  belonged,  was  in  full 
vogue.  ...  It  was  only  a  step  from  "mavericking"  to  branding  any 
calf  without  a  brand  and  from  that  to  changing  brands.  Cowboys 
permitted  to  brand  promiscuously  for  a  company  soon  found  that 
they  could  as  easily  steal  calves  and  brand  them  for  themselves. 
If  we  are  to  believe  the  stories  that  floated  up  from  Texas  to  our 
range,  a  goodly  number  of  big  Texas  outfits  had  their  beginning 


THE  HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  165 

without  capital  invested  in  anything  save  a  branding  iron."  .  .  . 

So  these  cowboys,  no  longer  having  a  job  and  denied  the  means 
of  honestly  providing  themselves  with  a  start  in  cows,  turned  to 
stealing.  They  had  to  live,  and  all  in  the  world  they  had  to  earn  a 
living  with  was  a  cow  pony,  a  rope,  a  bed  roll,  a  running  iron  and 
a  vast  knowledge  of  cows.  They  probably  salved  their  consciences 
by  saying  to  themselves  that  if  they  didn't  brand  these  calves 
somebody  else  would  (and  they  would)  and  somehow  that  made 
it  seem  right  (if  it  did  have  to  seem  right — which  often  was 
doubtful).  Thus  it  was  that  indirectly  and  certainly  unintention- 
ally the  big  cowmen  were  making  horse  and  cattle  thieves  out  of 
their  cast-off  employees.  What  they  failed  to  realize  in  time  was 
that  these  fellows  knew  the  cow  business  and  the  cow  country 
too  well — far  too  well. 

The  real  genuine,  dyed-in-the-wool  outlaw  cowboys  took  great 
pride  in  their  appearance  and  trappings.  The  latter  consisted  of  a 
fine  heavily  silver-studded  saddle,  silver  mounted  bridle  and  spurs, 
a  fancy  quirt,  also  silver  decorated,  a  fine  rawhide  rope,  a  pair  of 
leather  chaps  (usually  plain)  and  a  cartridge  belt  with  silver 
buckles.  Often  their  six-shooters  were  pearl-handled  and  elab- 
orately decorated.  They  carried  30-30  rifles  on  their  saddles. 
Many  had  fancy  hatbands  of  dressed  rattlesnake  skin  on  their 
expensive  stiff -brimmed  light  felt  hats.  Brilliantly  colored  hand- 
kerchiefs were  knotted  about  their  necks.  The  most  spectacular 
part  of  their  regalia  were  the  exquisitely  fitted  (often  skin-tight) 
high-heeled  boots  which  were  usually  made  to  order. 

The  vest  was  much  in  vogue,  any  kind  it  seemed — even  a  cow- 
hide one  with  hair  left  on.  "Hairy-vest"  Jumbo  wore  a  red  cow- 
hide vest  with  the  hair  outside.  He  also  had  a  couple  of  saddle- 
bags slung  on  behind  his  saddle  made  of  the  same  stuff  in  which 
he  carried  extra  ammunition.  He  came  in  and  out  of  the  Hole- 
in-the-Wall  and  was  a  queer  sort — had  little  eyes  and  a  big  nose — 
couldn't  tell  much  about  his  mouth  for  the  whiskers,  except  that 
it  could  open  and  shut  very  expertly.  When  he  laughed,  which  was 
suddenly  like  a  clap  of  thunder  with  no  beginning  and  no  end, 
he'd  just  open  his  mouth  big  and  the  laughter  came  out.  You 
couldn't  tell  for  certain  whether  he  was  amused  or  not.  Jumbo 
was  a  big  fellow — always  rode  his  horse  loose  and  sloppy — with 
grimy  hands  on  the  horn.  His  hands  were  big,  with  fingers  fat 
and  pointless,  hke  weenies.  He  always  seemed  much  too  big  for 
the  horse  he  rode.  The  only  thing  anybody  knew  for  sure  about 
Jumbo  was  that  he  drowned  in  the  flooded  North  Fork  of  the 
Powder,  horse,  vest,  saddlebags  and  all.  Everybody  thought  the 
poor  horse  felt  drowning  was  easier  than  packing  Jumbo  any 
farther. 

Each  one  owned  one  or  more  fine  pure-blooded  saddle  horses. 
They  always  had  the  best  of  horse  flesh  under  them — it  was 
vitally  necessary  to  do  so.    They  chose  animals  of  endurance  and 


1.  Hole-in-the-wall    cabins    on    Buffalo   Creek.      Main    house    at    left. 

2.  Close  view  of  main  house 

3.  Cowboy  snaking  in  wood. 

— Courtes\  Thelina  Gatchell  Condit 


THE  HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  167 

speed  and  spent  much  time  training  them  to  respond  instantly  to 
the  needs  of  their  trade.  Much  could  be  said  of  these  horses  and 
what  part  they  too  played  in  these  days  of  rustling.  Their  skill 
and  intelligence  were  almost  human;  often  more  than  human. 

Some  of  these  outlaw  cowboys  could  draw  a  gun  like  lightning, 
some  were  expert,  fancy-ropers  and  some  could  ride  any  horse  no 
matter  of  what  disposition  or  temperament;  but  the  best  and  most 
successful  ones  could  do  all  three  things  well.  Also  it  is  well  to 
bear  in  mind  that  these  Texas  cowboys  and  their  Texas  cow  ponies 
contributed  a  great  deal  indeed  to  the  Wyoming  cattle  raising;  and 
when  the  drifters  came  into  the  Hole-in-the-Wall  the  worst  offend- 
ers and  those  most  difficult  to  apprehend,  were  those  previously 
connected  with  the  range  cow-business,  all  had  experience  neces- 
sary for  their  trades  and  most  important  of  all,  they  had  the  nerve 
to  go  with  their  skill. 

Presumably  the  headquarters  for  the  Hole-in-the-Wall  gang  was 
the  cabin  on  Buffalo  Creek  (see  picture  and  map).  Sanford 
(Sang)  Thompson  was  supposed  to  have  built  it,  for  he  was 
coming  in  and  out  of  the  Hole  many  years  before  the  "Invasion". 
Nobody  ever  seemed  to  know  what  his  business  was — but  ob- 
viously it  wasn't  legitimate.  Sang  was  a  good-looking  fellow  of 
medium  height,  with  a  somewhat  sandy  complexion.  He  wasn't 
too  awfully  bad  because  he  had  sort  of  nice  eyes — kind  of  "half- 
laughing"  eyes.  When  you  looked  at  them  you  like  him.  It  was 
unfortunate  for  him  that  you  sometimes  forgot  and  looked  at  all 
of  his  face,  for  altogether  there  was  something  wrong  with  it. 
It  was  hard  to  describe  just  exactly  what  was  wrong,  but  it  was 
there  and  you  knew  it.  Whenever  you  saw  him  you  couldn't  for 
the  life  of  you  make  up  your  mind  whether  he  was  good  or  bad. 
Sang  had  a  crippled  foot  resulting  from  a  badly-set  broken  ankle. 
(In  his  later  outlaw  career  in  a  brush  with  the  law  he  gave  himself 
away  by  his  crooked  boot-track  in  the  mud. ) 

His  cabin  was  originally  one-roomed,  with  a  shallow  ridge-roof, 
about  16'  X  24'.  Later,  as  more  visitors  (?)  came  and  went  a 
10'xl2'  bunk  room  was  added  on  the  rear  of  the  main  cabin.  (See 
picture)  Somewhat  later  another  smaller  cabin  was  built  nearer 
the  creek.  A  good,  strong,  small  corral  was  there,  but  seldom 
used,  for  mostly  the  horses  were  hidden  in  small  canyons  out  of 
sight.  There  never  was  much  sign  of  life  around  the  place,  pur- 
posely. To  the  casual  passer-by  it  appeared  infrequently  used, 
as  did  all  other  places  occupied  by  the  outlaws  and  rustlers. 

There  was  nothing  much  inside  either,  for  the  wants  of  these 
men  were  few.  A  long  table,  crudely  home-made,  stood  in  the 
right  corner  of  the  bigger  room,  sort  of  sideways  near  the  doorway. 
Behind  it,  in  the  corner  itself,  was  a  cook-stove.  Double-decked 
bunks  for  bed-rolls  and  rough  homemade  chairs,  some  covered 
with  cowhide,  and  two  small  tables  filled  the  back  of  the  room — 
these  latter  for  the  card  games  so  vital  a  part  of  a  cowboy's  life. 


168  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Here  and  there  haphazardly  nailed  to  the  wall  were  reward  notices 
for  various  outlaws.  Some  cowboy  with  a  flare  for  the  artistic  had 
drawn  spectacles,  mustaches,  etc.  on  the  faces  or  scrawled  humor- 
ous remarks  below.  Wooden  pegs  along  the  walls  held  chaps, 
rifles  and  full  cartridge  belts  for  the  single-action  45  Colts  used 
by  the  fellows.  You  never  found  hats  on  the  pegs,  for  the  cowboy 
seldom  parted  with  his  hat,  even  for  his  occasional  ablutions. 
The  hat  was  the  first  apparel  donned  in  the  morning.  It  wasn't 
at  all  unusual  to  see  one  of  the  men  parading  around  in  his  long 
underwear  with  his  hat  perched  on  his  head. 

There  wasn't  much  grub  around — just  the  staples  like  flour  and 
coffee — these  men  lived  mostly  "off  the  land".  They  ate  meat, 
and  good  meat,  sometimes  even  raw.  Like  a  fellow  up  there  they 
called  "Old  Tex".  He  was  a  big,  brawny  Texan,  very  dark  com- 
plexioned  with  quite  a  sophisticated  air  about  him.  He  always 
had  a  quid  of  tobacco  in  his  cheek  and  wore  gaudy  boots  that 
came  clear  to  his  knees.  A  lot  of  the  younger  fellows  mimicked 
him,  thinking  he  really  knew  all  the  answers,  and  he  did  give  that 
impression.  He  came  in  one  day  from  a  hard  day's  ride  and  said 
he  was  plenty  hungry  and  wanted  a  big,  juicy  beefsteak.  No  one 
made  a  move  to  do  any  cooking — just  went  on  playing  cards.  Old 
Tex  looked  at  the  wood-box.  If  there  was  anything  the  average 
run  of  cowboy  hated,  it  was  getting  in  or  chopping  wood.  He 
would  condescend  to  rope  a  snag  and  drag  it  in,  if  in  a  pinch, 
but  he  just  couldn't  see  doing  anything  that  he  couldn't  do  on 
horseback.  (See  picture)  When  he  saw  that  the  wood-box  was 
empty  Old  Tex  said,  "Hell,  you  fellows  don't  need  to  bother' 
cookin'  me  none.  I'll  just  eat  her  raw"  and  he  proceeded  to  go 
outside,  take  down  a  quarter  of  beef  hanging  in  the  tree  outside 
wrapped  in  a  tarp,  and  cut  himself  a  sizable  chunk  and  ate  it  with 
seeming  relish.  He'd  roll  an  old  tobacco  can  full  of  cigarettes 
to  carry  with  him  so  he  wouldn't  "have  to  roll  'em  in  the  wind 
and  get  his  hands  cold." 

The  Hole-in-the-Wall  cabin  was  strictly  bachelors'  quarters; 
it  was  a  man's  country  and  none  of  the  gang  were  ever  hampered 
by  female  entanglements.  They  were  free  as  the  breezes  to  come 
and  go,  answering  to  no  one  for  what  they  did.  It  was  a  wonderful 
set-up.  They  were  in  perfect  accord  with  the  geography  of  the 
place. 

The  country  around  Salt  Creek  and  the  head  of  Murphy  Creek, 
east  of  the  red  waU  country,  was  considered  more  or  less  neutral 
ground.  None  of  the  big  outfits  ever  thoroughly  worked  it  or 
actually  even  claimed  the  use  of  it.  For  one  thing  it  was  mostly 
unfavorable  kind  of  land — full  of  bog  holes,  etc.,  but  it  led  straight 
into  the  Hole-in-the-Wall  trail.  It  gave  the  outlaws  clear  sailing 
to  pick  up  little  bunches  of  cattle  and  slip  them  behind  the  Wall, 
and  for  a  long  time  no  one  was  ever  the  wiser.    Contrary  to  general 


THE  HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  169 

opinion  the  rustlers  never  got  away  with  big  bunches  of  stock 
at  any  one  time,  it  was  the  frequent  gathering  of  small  numbers 
which  were  easily  disposed  of  that  escaped  detection.  Mostly 
cows  and  calves  would  be  taken  in,  and  at  weaning  time  the  calves 
cut  away  from  their  mothers,  which  were  then  turned  back  out 
into  the  Murphy  Creek  country.  There  was  a  cleverly  hidden 
corral  in  the  "Hole"  on  Buffalo  Creek  on  a  little  piece  of  ground 
tight  up  against  the  red  wall.  When  you  looked  there  all  you 
saw  was  a  bunch  of  willows.  It  seemed  impossible  that  a  pole 
corral  (no  nails,  no  fence  posts  or  wire)  was  there.  It  no  doubt 
has  held  many  a  critter  at  needful  times.  In  fact,  it's  still  there 
and  entirely  useable.     (See  picture). 

Further  up  on  the  slope  were  two  more  corrals  (See  map) — 
both  works  of  art  in  that  they  were  made  by  simply  cleverly  piling 
up  tree  trunks  and  tree  roots  to  make  the  enclosure — no  nails, 
no  wire — just  dead  trees.  They  also  are  still  there.  In  addition 
to  the  ingenuity  used  in  their  construction  is  the  shrewd  choice  of 
location.  The  big  one  on  Middle  Fork  is  cleverly  hidden  in  trees 
and  there  is  no  obvious  trail  leading  to  it  or  signs  of  anything 
around.  The  first  thing  they  knew,  a  bunch  of  horses  were  in 
the  corral  and  that  was  that.  Anyone  wandering  around  up  there 
today  can  suddenly  find  himself  in  the  corral,  too,  and  feel  the 
same  puzzled  bewilderment  experienced  by  the  horses.  It's  a  little 
mysterious  and  spookish  as  are  many  things  found  in  the  Hole-in- 
the-Wall. 

Farther  down  the  Powder  River,  below  the  Bar  C  and  east 
several  miles,  is  an  old  "dug-out"  used  by  the  outlaws.  (See 
picture)  Actually  the  cabin  on  Buffalo  Creek  was  more  or  less 
of  a  blind.  When  an  outlaw  really  was  decidedly  on  the  dodge 
he  took  to  a  secret  hideout  in  Eagle  Creek  Canyon.  This  was 
again  a  natural,  seemingly  special-made  place  for  them  with  a 
four  way  escape  formed  by  Eagle  Creek  Canyon  itself  and  two 
cross  canyons  disecting  it.  They  had  built  a  stone  fireplace  in 
the  center  of  the  canyons  (see  map  and  picture)  where  the  place 
rounded  out  into  a  cozy  little  open  place.  Here  was  wood,  water, 
and  horse  feed  and  protection.  What  else  was  needed?  Each  of 
the  four  little  canyons  were  heavily  grassed  and  boxed  in. 

An  outlaw  slept  up  each  canyon — no  two  in  the  same  spot, 
with  his  horse  and  bedroll  hidden.  If  the  law  did  happen  to  get 
that  far  into  the  Hole-in-the-Wall  country  he'd  never  be  able  to 
get  more  than  one  outlaw,  for  the  others  could  be  up  and  gone  at 
a  moment's  notice.  The  way  in  and  out  of  these  places  was  rough 
and  hazardous  and  only  a  skilled  rider  and  a  good  horse  could 
use  it  advantageously  and  quickly. 

On  the  slope  immediately  north  of  this  hideout  is  what  is  called 
the  "Dry  V",  it  being  a  V-shaped  bench,  cut  off  from  the  rest 
of  the  mountain.  Stolen  cattle  or  horses  could  be  run  up  there 
(for  a  short  time  only,  as  there  was  no  water  there.)     The  one 


170  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

entrance  blocked  off  and  there  the  cattle  were,  ready  to  be  slipped 
off  and  over  into  the  Basin  country  or  wherever  they  were  to  be 
headed.  If  any  interfering  parties  arrived  and  found  cattle  there, 
the  culprits  could  be  miles  away  by  the  time  anything  could  be 
decided  or  planned.  It  was  indeed  an  ideal  set-up;  all  the  men 
had  to  do  was  furnish  the  brains  and  courage  to  make  use  of  it. 

Now  we  come  to  that  unanswerable  question — who  were  the 
men  in  the  Hole-in-the-Wall  gang?  Nobody  now  will  ever  find 
out.  It's  hard  to  realize  the  constant  "coming  and  going"  of  men 
at  that  time.  They  didn't  stay  long  in  any  one  place.  It's  very 
doubtful  if  people  living  right  there  at  the  time  knew  who  was  in 
the  gang,  for  men  who  frequented  the  Hole-in-the-Wall  came  from 
everywhere  and  who  could  know  them  all  or  what  they  did?  One 
thing  is  very  certain:  no  one  permanent  gang  ever  stayed  in  any 
particular  section  for  any  length  of  time.  Their  activities  took 
them  far  and  wide  and,  as  is  true  in  any  walk  of  life,  some  got 
killed,  some  reformed  and  some  just  never  used  this  place  again, 
went  \yith  another  gang,  took  off  for  Montana  or  Canada,  or  just 
plain  disappeared.  Perhaps  in  this  instance,  the  mystery  sur- 
rounding these  men  adds  to  our  desire  to  find  out  more  about  them 
and  certainly  a  good  way  to  do  this  is  to  try  to  understand  the  ones 
we  can  find  out  something  about.  For  a  lot  of  people  did  know 
some  of  the  fellows — knew  them  in  a  friendly,  neighborly  sort  of 
way.  Perhaps  it  would  be  truer  to  say  that  they  found  the  outlaws 
friendly  and  neighborly  in  their  contacts  with  them.  Any  man 
has  many  sides,  and  it's  only  natural  to  judge  him  by  your  own 
personal  experiences  with  him.  If  your  relationship  and  contacts, 
have  been  favorable  to  you,  your  opinion  of  him  will  be  a  friendly 
one,  no  matter  what  some  one  else  thinks  or  says  about  him. 
Besides,  in  the  West  a  man  was  accepted  (or  rejected)  and  no 
questions  asked.  He  wasn't  expected  to  give  a  report  of  himself 
and  his  past.  That  is  why  we  know  so  little  of  so  many  of  them 
— we  get  only  a  glimpse  and  that's  all.  Often  he  didn't  even  use 
his  right  name.  Nobody  had  time  to  wonder  about  a  man's 
heredity  and  breeding.  The  very  fact  that  he  was  here  on  the 
Powder  at  this  time  meant  that  whoever  he  was,  he  was  quite  able 
to  take  care  of  himself  or,  if  he  wasn't,  would  suffer  the  conse- 
quences. It's  most  difficult  for  us  to  understand  these  impersonal 
relationships.  A  fellow  would  be  friendly  and  stick  with  you  in 
a  tough  situation  and  the  next  instant  seem  as  remote  and  distant 
as  the  very  sky  itself.  If  you  thought  for  a  minute  he'd  lie  awake 
at  night  and  tell  you  his  troubles  or  innermost  thoughts,  you  were 
mistaken.  He'd  spin  yarns  and  relate  past  happenings,  but  just 
for  conversation's  sake — never  because  he  wanted  to  be  close  to 
you  or  have  you  know  his  personal  feelings.  A  mian  who  needed 
that  sort  of  "human  closeness"  didn't  come  West. 

Even  when  he  got  married,  as  some  of  them  finally  did,  his  wife 
had  to  take  a  lot  for  granted — she  couldn't  pin  him  down,  either. 


THE  HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  171 

or  understand  him  inside  any  more  than  she  could  understand  the 
Hole-in-the-Wall  country  itself.  She  couldn't  run  him,  that  was 
certain,  as  he  was  too  used  to  looking  out  over  big  spaces  to  ever 
concentrate  on  a  garden,  milk-cow  or  wood-box.  She  never  could 
quite  reach  this  man  of  hers  and  so  learned  to  accept  him  and 
attempt,  often  with  much  heart-ache  and  sometimes  periods  of 
bitterness,  to  take  him  the  way  he  was,  for  she  finally  came  to 
know  that  he  could  no  more  change  than  could  the  red  wall  itself 
ever  be  like  other  walls. 

It  is  very  appropriate  at  this  time  to  describe  another  early-day 
post  office  where  the  outlaws  got  their  mail,  for  here  we  are  able 
to  get  a  fairly  clear  picture  of  some  of  their  doings  and  ways. 
Riverside  on  Blue  Creek,  while  still  a  favorite  gathering  place  for 
outlaws,  and  everybody,  in  fact,  was  no  longer  a  postoffice,  and 
Powder  River  Crossing  was  no  more.  The  mail  now  came  to  the 
red  wall  country  from  Mayo  worth  (from  Buffalo  and  then  on  west 
over  the  mountain).  The  first  Mayo  worth  postoffice  was  estab- 
Hshed  in  1888  to  serve  those  settling  on  the  North  Fork  of  the 
Powder.  A  Mrs.  Morgareidge  was  postmistress.  She  lived  on  the 
Griffith  Jones  ranch  about  16  miles  (maybe  less)  from  present-day 
Kaycee. 

In  1893  (or  maybe  a  year  or  two  before)  it  was  moved  to  EK 
mountain  and  Mrs.  A.  L.  Brock  was  appointed  postmistress.  She 
was  the  mother  of  the  late  J.  Elmer  Brock,  and  never  could  mere 
words  alone  describe  the  comforting,  deep-rootedness  of  this 
gracious  woman.  At  the  very  peak  of  the  unrest  and  reputed 
evilness  of  the  times  she  came  to  this  homestead  on  EK  (See 
picture  and  map)  where  she  and  her  husband  established  a  home 
on  the  edge  of  the  very  worst  outlaw  and  rustler  country. 

The  Brock  family  had  previously  homesteaded  on  Kelly  Creek 
to  the  north  (Oct.  12,  1884).  Here  they  remained  six  years,  when 
they  moved  to  the  EK  place  near  the  North  Fork  of  the  Powder^ 
In  the  midst  of  the  Cattle  War  and  the  upheaval  before  and  after 
it,  they  were  able  to  carry  on  their  ranching  activities  and  maintain 
friendly  relations  with  everybody.  This  was  perhaps  even  more 
difficult  than  being  on  one  side  or  the  other — this  being  neutral. 
As  said  before,  each  man  took  a  stand  and  the  not-to-be  forgotten 
thing  was  this  very  fact.  No  matter  what  was  decided  it  took 
courage  to  follow  it  through  and  the  men  had  the  fortitude  to 
abide  by  their  decisions,  come  what  may.  In  those  days  a  man 
saw  to  his  shooting-irons,  kept  good  horses  and  learned  to  think 
straight  and  quick,  and  most  of  all,  to  attend  to  his  own  business. 
It  was  indeed  a  brave  thing  to  be  neutral — to  take  a  place  apart 


1.  It  was  at  this  place  and  immediate  vicinity  they  stayed  to  found  a 
cattle  ranch  on  the  sound  and  sensible  economic  basis  upon  which  our 
present-day  cow-business  is  based. 


1.  A.  L.  Brock  Ranch  at  EK  Mountain  about  1892. 

2.  Early  day  cowboys  roping  and  branding  on  the  open  range. 

3.  Mrs.  A.  L.   Brcck,  postmistress  at   EK  ranch   during  the   Invasion. 

— Courtesy  Tlielina  Gatchell  Condit 


THE  HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  173 

and  at  the  same  time  gain  and  keep  the  respect  of  both  factions. 
This  the  Brocks  did. 

Mrs.  Brock  (JuHa)  was  one  of  those  completely  unselfish  per- 
sons so  rarely  found.  She  was  so  sweet  and  rich  within  herself 
that  she  looked  only  at  the  good  in  others.  Her  wonderful  per- 
sonality reached  out  to  all  types  alike.  She  was  charitable  towards 
all — a  born  lady.  Their  little  log  cabin  became  a  place  of  such 
hospitality  that  everybody  looked  forward  to  getting  the  mail; 
in  fact,  they  came  early  and  stayed  late  on  mail  day,  which  was 
Thursday.  It  was  more  than  mail  day — it  was  a  social  event.  It 
was  not  at  all  unusual  to  have  forty  persons  for  supper  that  day. 
The  family  hurried  about  making  necessary  preparations.  The 
kerosene  lamps  had  to  be  filled,  wicks  trimmed  and  food,  much 
food,  prepared.  An  ovenful  of  bread  was  baked  and  considering 
the  huge  cookstoves  then  in  vogue,  that  meant  a  lot  of  bread. 

Genie  Brock,  the  second  child,  tells  many  interesting  things 
about  their  Life  at  EK.  (She  is  now  Mrs.  T.  W.  Harper  and  lives 
in  Florida).  Her  mother  put  up  wild  plums  in  five-gallon  cans. 
The  top  would  be  cut  off  a  5  gallon  kerosene  can;  a  cloth  was 
tied  securely  over  the  jam  and  the  cans  were  then  placed  in  the 
cellar,  which  was  dug  out  of  the  side  of  the  hill  back  of  the  house. 
So  it  was  a  sure  thing  that  the  mail-night  guests  would  have  fresh 
bread  and  plum  jam.  (Genie  said  she  got  so  tired  of  plum  jam 
she'd  let  no  means  of  persuasion  go  untried  at  school  to  swap  her 
plum-butter  sandwich  for  a  chokecherry  jelly  one.) 

She  also  told  of  the  hogsheads  of  molasses  shipped  up  from 
Missouri.  Cakes  and  puddings  were  made  with  this — it  was  the 
main  cooking  sweetening.  A  little  hatchet  was  used  to  chop  it 
out  of  the  keg  when  it  became  hardened  and  too  thick  to  run 
out  the  bung-hole. 

One  time  the  two  oldest  Brock  children  decided  their  place 
might  just  as  well  be  a  road-ranch,  too,  as  well  as  a  postoffice. 
This  name  seemed  very  exciting  to  their  youthful  imaginations.  So 
they  took  great  pains  fixing  up  a  big  sign  speUing  out  "Road- 
Ranch"  and  named  a  now  forgotten  price  for  meals  and  lodging. 
They  hung  it  over  the  gate  and  waited  rather  impatiently  for  their 
first  customer.  Unfortunately  this  person  was  Mr.  Brock  himself 
who  was  quite  demonstrative  in  his  objections  to  their  newly- 
formed  idea.    The  sign  came  down  and  that  was  the  end  of  that. 

In  the  face  of  back-breaking,  everlasting  household  tasks  one 
never  ceases  to  marvel  that  a  woman  could  or  would  find  time 
to  have  a  flower  garden  and  hollyhocks  in  the  yard,  but  Julia 
Brock  did.  She  also  found  time  for  many  little  extras  that  les- 
sened the  severity  of  this  kind  of  life — she  gave  so  very  freely  of 
herself  in  warmhearted  service  to  those  she  loved  and  to  all  those 
with  whom  she  came  in  contact. 

Her  postoffice  was  in  the  southeast  corner  of  the  livingroom. 
The  desk  she  used  for  mail  is  now  (on  loan)  in  the  Jim  Gatchell- 


174  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Johnson  County  Memorial  Museum  at  Buffalo,  Wyoming.  The 
flat  top  lifts  up  and  discloses  a  hidden  compartment  for  special 
secret  things.  The  desk  front  opens  to  form  a  little  table,  behind 
which  are  the  pigeon-holed  shelves  where  the  sorted  letters  were 
placed.  The  inside  of  the  desk  shows  considerable  usage,  but 
the  outside  is  still  very  presentable. 

One  would  naturally  suppose  it  would  have  been  somewhat 
frightening,  if  not  downright  dangerous,  to  deliver  mail  to  outlaws, 
but  it  wasn't  that  way  at  all.  Even  the  most  hardened  ones  took 
their  gunbelts  off  and  hung  them  outside  the  door  before  entering 
the  house  and  were  courteous  and  friendly  while  there,  for  they 
all  respected  this  warm-hearted  little  postmistress  who  not  only 
greeted  them  graciously,  but  fed  them  as  well  and  even  went  so 
far  as  to  personally  show  them  her  precious  flower  garden.  One 
big  raw-boned,  bumpy-knuckled  outlaw  was  genuinely  intrigued 
with  the  delicate  little  moss  roses.  He'd  kneel  down,  squatting 
on  his  spurs  to  scrutinize  them  closely.  Each  one  of  these  men 
felt  happier  when  in  her  presence  and  one  cannot  help  wondering 
if  the  course  of  their  lives  might  not  have  taken  a  better  turn  had 
there  been  more  good  women  in  this  world  of  theirs.  For  rough 
as  they  were  they  had  genuine  regard  for  a  good  woman  and 
always  treated  her  with  utmost  respect.  She  would  have  been 
completely  safe  even  if  all  alone  in  a  remote  cabin  on  the  slope. 
Mrs.  Brock  treated  the  outlaws  as  if  they  were  the  nicest  of  men 
and  they  would  have  granted  any  favor  had  she  asked  it  of  them. 
Often  she  had  as  much  as  $400  in  her  postoffice,  and  not  once 
was  even  a  dime  stolen,  nor  anything  else,  for  that  matter. 

One  time  when  the  family  had  to  be  gone  for  several  months 
it  was  an  alleged  outlaw  who  stayed  at  the  ranch  to  care  for  things. 
When  Mr.  Brock  returned  he  found  the  fellow  very  low  on  grub 
and  asked  him  why  he  hadn't  used  potatoes  and  vegetables  from 
the  cellar.  The  man  replied,  "I  didn't  want  to — they  weren't 
mine."    He  had  in  no  way  taken  advantage  of  their  faith  in  him. 

"Flat-nosed"  George  Curry,  the  notorious  horse  thief  and  cattle 
rustler,  was  head  of  the  Hole-in-the-Wall  gang  before  Butch  Cas- 
sidy  took  over.  When  you  met  Curry  you  knew  right  away  that 
it  took  more  than  reckless  nerve  and  foolish  bravado  to  be  a  leader 
of  outlaws.  You  had  to  have  brains,  too.  Curry  was  a  strong 
believer  in  planned  organization,  and  he  was  loathe  to  kill  just  for 
killings'  sake.  His  racket  was  a  matter  of  expert  maneuvering 
and  outwitting  rather  than  love  of  taking  human  life.  He  was 
neither  mean  nor  cruel.  He  was  just  a  young  chap  when  he  came 
to  the  EK  postoffice.  He  wasn't  too  big  a  fellow  and  had  a 
pugnose,  not  disfiguring  however  (hence  the  nickname),  and  a 
happy  smile  and  was  really  fun  to  visit  with. 

One  day  when  he  came  for  the  mail  young  Genie  had  a  face 
swollen  all  out  of  shape  with  a  toothache.     He  felt  very  sorry 


I 


THE  HOLE-IN-THE-WALL  175 

for  her  indeed,  and  the  next  day  brought  her  some  pretty  blue 
hair  ribbons. 

Another  time  while  out  horseback  riding  Genie  lost  her  scarf. 
Curry  later  found  it  laying  on  the  ground  and  promptly  returned 
it  to  her.  Her  mother  insisted  that  she  thank  Mr.  Curry  for  his 
though tfulness  and  kindness  in  bringing  back  the  lost  scarf;  but 
Genie  very  saucily  tossed  her  head  and  repUed,  "Why  should  I 
thank  him,  it's  mine."  She  later  said  that  this  remark  pleased  the 
outlaw — he  liked  her  spunk  and  she  thought  he  was  very  nice. 

In  reminiscing  about  her  EK  childhood  Genie  relates  a  most 
unusual  experience,  one  which  has  remained  the  highlight  of  her 
childhood  memories.  She  says  she  still  takes  great  pleasure  in 
telling  it  to  people  she  meets  in  various  places  in  her  travels  over 
the  world.  They  look  at  her  with  mingled  awe,  disbelief,  and 
admiration,  and  perhaps  secret  envy  when  she  says  that  she 
actually  visited  the  Hole-in-the-Wall  gang  at  their  headquarters  on 
Buffalo  Creek,  and  was  a  very  special  guest  of  theirs  for  several 
days — she  and  the  girl  who  was  at  the  time  helping  Mrs.  Brock 
with  her  housework.  The  children  had  a  perfectly  wonderful  time 
being  the  absolute  center  of  attraction.  When  trying  to  recall 
this  time  Genie  says,  "There  was  an  awfully  big  bunch  of  men, 
but  I  can't  possibly  remember  all  their  names,  or  how  they  looked.  s 

I  was  just  a  child,  you  know."  | 

The  Harris  Boys  were  there.     They  were  half-breed  Indians  I 

and  really  bad;  there  was  Ladigo  Bill  and  Saul  Terrell,  both  nice  | 

looking,  slim  fellows  and  good  cowboys;  and  Sang  Thompson,  the 
horse  thief;  and  Driftwood  Jim  (Jim  McCloud),  who  was  willowy  ,, 

and  tall  and  very,  very  graceful  in  the  saddle — no  one  would  even  | 

suspect  he  was  an  outlaw. 

Genie  remembered  the  beautiful  horses  they  had — sleek  and 
shiny  and  well-cared  for.  They  allowed  the  girls  to  ride  some  of 
their  top  cow-ponies.  This  was  indeed  heaven,  for  to  quote  Genie, 
"The  horse  I  rode  at  home  was  named  Poddy.  He  was  a  little 
mouse-colored  pony  with  weak  knees.  He  fell  down  so  often  I 
still  wonder  why  I  didn't  get  my  neck  broken." 

The  outlaws  put  up  swings  for  the  little  girls  and  they'd  swing 
up  to  the  highest  treetops.  Genie  said,  "I  remember  we  had  lots 
of  good  beef  to  eat".    In  the  evenings  it  was  always  card-playing  ^ 

time;  the  men  taught  Genie  to  play  poker  and  "riffle"  the  cards  | 

in  true  card-shark  fashion.    She  still  astounds  staid  bridge  partners  "^ 

by  "riffling"  the  cards.  Their  eyes  open  wide  when  she  calmly 
remarks,  "I  learned  to  do  this  in  the  Hole-in-the-Wall  when  I 
visited  Curry's  'Wild  Bunch'." 

At  one  time  a  letter  came  addressed  to  George  Curry  in  a 
Western  Union  envelope.  Mrs.  Brock,  thinking  it  must  be  of 
extreme  importance,  got  a  man  who  knew  where  Curry  was  to 
deliver,  the  letter  to  him  30  miles  away  in  a  secret  hideout.  She 
begged  the  fellow  to  ride  fast  and  he  did.    At  the  first  opportunity 


176 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


George  himself  returned  to  EK  and  personally  thanked  her  for 
her  thoughtfulness.  Once  she  asked  him,  "George,  why  do  you 
do  these  things  that  cause  us  worry?"  and  he  replied,  "Oh,  I  don't 
know — just  the  fun  of  it,  I  guess.  It  ain't  the  money — just  the  fun, 
just  the  fun,''  and  he  looked  at  her  seriously  several  moments  and 
then  burst  into  merry  laughter  and  rode  off  south  into  the  Hole- 
in-the-Wall. 

(To  be  continued) 


^u4/  /Z  /9SS 


Three  Crossings  Pony  Express  and  Stage  Station  on  Sweetwater  River 
By  W.  H.  Jackson 


Oregon  Zrail  Zrek  J^o.  Twe 

Compiled  By 

Maurine  Carley,  Trek  Historian 

July  17,  1955 

108  Participants 42  cars 

OFFICERS 

Colonel  W.  R.  Bradley  of  Hiway  Patrol....  Safety  Officer  and 

Captain  of  Train 

General  R.  L.  Esmay _ Commander  of 

Military  Escort 

Major  Henry  Lloyd. Registrar 

Frank  Murphy _ ____ Wagon  Boss 

Tom  Sun _. Assistant  Wagon  Boss 

Lyle  Hildebrand.-.. Assistant  Wagon  Boss 

Maurine  Carley Historian 

Pierre  La  Bonte,  Assonet,  Mass .....Photographer 

Frances  Seely  Webb... Photographer  and  Press 

Colonel  A.  R.  Boyack ._ Chaplain 

Note:  Numbers  preceding  "M"  indicate  miles  north  and  west  on 
the  Oregon  Trail  from  where  the  south  branch  of  the  main 
Emigrant  Road  enters  Wyoming.  Vi.  Laramie  is  33  M., 
Ft.  Casper  153  M.  on  the  south  road.  The  Tom  Sun 
Ranch,  starting  point  for  Trek  4^5,  is  212  M.  The  north 
side  road  from  Ft.  Laramie  to  Ft.  Casper  is  1 7  miles  longer. 
9:30  A.M.  Met  at  the  Tom  Sun  Ranch  and  inspected  their 
Museum,  then  registered  for  the  trek. 

Prayer  by  Colonel  Boyack 

Our  Father  in  Heaven  — 

As  we  are  about  to  begin  another  trek  in  our  series,  we  give 
thanks  to  Thee  for  all  Thy  blessings.  We  thank  Thee  for  this 
goodly  land  and  for  the  freedom  we  enjoy  in  it.  Especially  are 
we  grateful  this  day  for  the  heritage  bequeathed  to  us  by  the  men 
and  women  who  made  this  Oregon-Mormon-California  Trail  a 
pathway  of  destiny. 

Give  us  Thy  protection  on  our  journey.  May  we  fully  appre- 
ciate that  every  foot  of  the  way  we  go  has  been  dedicated  by  the 
toil  and  tears  and  tragedies  of  thousands.  We  bless  their  memory 
and  pray  that  in  our  hearts  shall  be  written  living  memorials  to 
their  heroic  sacrifices. 

We  pray  Thy  blessings  upon  those  who  by  their  planning  and 
painstaking  research  make  possible  these  treks  into  the  past.    May 


OREGON   TRAIL   TREK   NO.    FIVE  179 

we  learn  this  day  lessons  of  faith,  courage  and  devotion  that  will 
serve  us  well  in  the  present. 

We  pray  for  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  amongst  us,  for  we  know 
that  by  serving  each  other,  we  serve  Thee.  Now  may  the  blessings 
of  peace  be  upon  us,  we  ask  in  Jesus'  name,  Amen. 

10:10  A.M.     Departed  from  the  Tom  Sun  Ranch.     212  M. 

The  site  of  the  old  Seminoe  Robinette  Stage  Station  and  Stock- 
ade was  pointed  out  in  the  meadow  about  300  feet  south  as  the 
caravan  left  the  Sun  ranch.  This  was  seen  before  the  highway 
crossed  Pete  Creek. 

After  crossing  Pete  Creek,  the  old  Emigrant  Road  was  plainly 
visible  on  the  south  side  of  the  Highway  until  it  crossed  to  the 
north  just  before  the  Martin  Cove  Marker.  From  there  it  was 
plain  for  some  distance,  but  cannot  be  traveled  because  of  fences 
and  washouts. 

10:15  A.M.  Arrived  at  the  Martin  Cove  Historical  Marker. 
214  M.  The  site  of  the  Hand  Cart  Company  tragedy  is  IVi 
miles  north. 

Mrs.  A.  R.  Boyack  gave  the  following  sympathetic  account  of 
the  Mormons  at  Martin  Cove. 

HANDCARTS  ALONG  THE  TRAIL  IN  1856 

Annals  of  history  will  be  searched  in  vain  for  a  more  colorful 
pageant  of  human  endeavor  than  the  march  of  Handcarts  along 
the  Trail  in  1856.  It  was  the  answer  of  a  devoted  people  to  the 
call  of  gathering  made  by  the  President  of  the  Latter-Day  Saints 
Church  in  Salt  Lake  City.  This  newly  devised  method  of  emigra- 
tion was  to  enable  thousands  of  eager  converts,  recruited  from 
the  Scandinavian  countries  and  the  British  Isles,  to  journey  West 
to  the  Zion  of  their  hopes  in  the  heart  of  the  mighty  Rockies. 

It  all  came  about  this  way:  The  Perpetual  Emigration  Fund, 
created  in  Salt  Lake  City  in  1849,  to  aid  those  who  were  unable 
to  finance  the  westward  journey,  had  been  taxed  beyond  its  limits. 
Said  President  Young  through  the  medium  of  the  Millenial  Star — 
"Let  the  Saints  who  can,  gather  up  for  Zion  and  come  while  the 
way  is  open  before  them.  Let  the  poor  also  come,  whether  they 
receive  aid  from  the  P.  E.  Fund  or  not;  let  them  come  on  foot 
with  handcarts  or  wheelbarrows;  let  them  gird  up  their  loins  and 
walk  through  and  nothing  shall  hinder  or  stay  them."  Iowa  City, 
then  the  end  of  rails  to  the  West,  was  selected  as  the  best  out- 
fitting post.  It  was  here  that  the  great  drama  of  Handcarts  Along 
The  Trail  began. 

Five  companies,  including  more  than  sixteen  hundred  men, 
women  and  children,  formed  the  Handcart  Brigade  to  Utah  in 
1856.  The  first  three,  led  respectively  by  Edmund  Ellsworth, 
Daniel  Mc Arthur,  and  Edward  Bunker,  were  eminently  successful. 
Out  of  eight  hundred  souls  only  eight  deaths  had  occurred  along 


180  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

the  line  of  march,  a  lower  mortality  rate  than  among  those  who 
travelled  by  ox  teams.  They  had  averaged  about  twenty  miles 
per  day,  were  not  encumbered  by  slow-moving  ox-drawn  wagons 
and  many  extra  cattle,  and  had  arrived  in  the  valley  by  early 
October,  1856. 

As  these  foot  soldiers  of  Zion  made  their  way  down  Emigration 
Canyon,  a  welcoming  pageant  was  there  to  greet  them.  Presidents 
Young,  Kimball  and  Wells,  with  military  and  band  escorts,  paid 
homage  to  these  gallant  and  fearless  folk.  When  they  entered  the 
city  people  came  running  from  everywhere  eager  to  catch  a  ghmpse 
of  the  long-looked-for  handcarts.  Tears  ran  down  the  cheeks  of 
many  as  they  looked  upon  these  victors  of  the  Plains  and  Moun- 
tains in  their  epic  march  of  thirteen  hundred  miles.  If  the  curtain 
of  History  could  be  drawn  at  this  point  for  the  year  1856,  we 
would  not  be  standing  by  this  monument  today. 

Of  the  last  two  companies  of  handcarts,  led  respectively  by 
James  G.  Willie  and  Edward  Martin,  three  major  factors  entered 
into  the  picture  which  brought  many  deaths  and  near  disaster  to 
the  parties.  These  were:  delay,  over-zealousness  to  get  to  the 
valley,  and  the  snows  of  early  winter.  The  combined  numbers  in 
the  two  companies  was  about  one  thousand  souls.  Edward  Martin 
had  the  largest  number,  five  hundred  seventy-six  persons,  with 
one  hundred  forty-six  handcarts,  seven  wagons  for  extra  supplies, 
fifty  cows  for  beef  cattle.  The  Willie  Company  numbered  four 
hundred  and  four,  with  eighty-seven  carts,  six  yoke  of  oxen  with 
wagons,  thirty-two  cows  for  beef. 

The  good  ship  Horizon  did  not  debark  from  Liverpool,  England,  • 
until  the  end  of  May.     It  was  early  July  before  the  emigrants 
assembled  at  Iowa  City,  only  to  find  that  their  handcarts  were  not 
ready. 

It  might  be  of  interest  to  know  just  how  one  of  these  carts  was 
constructed.  In  length  the  side  pieces,  or  shafts,  were  about  six 
or  seven  feet  long  and  made  of  Iowa  oak  or  hickory.  These  were 
connected  by  a  cross-piece  to  serve  as  a  bar  or  handle  for  pulling. 
Three  or  four  other  cross-pieces  about  a  foot  apart  served  as  the 
bed  of  the  cart.  Under  the  center  was  fashioned  a  wooden  axle 
without  iron  skeins.  On  the  center  cross-pieces  was  a  box  made 
of  wood  or  leather,  in  which  provisions  and  clothing  could  be 
stored.  The  weight  of  the  cart  was  about  sixty  pounds,  and  the 
width  that  of  a  wagon,  so  as  to  roll  easily  in  the  ruts  of  the  Old 
Trail.  Seventeen  pounds  was  the  load  limit  for  each  adult,  and 
ten  pounds  for  children. 

On  the  15th  of  July,  the  Willie  Company  began  its  westward 
march.  The  Martin  Company  did  not  leave  until  July  26th.  The 
trek  across  the  green-rolling  prairies  of  Iowa  was  not  too  difficult. 
Extra  food  was  obtainable.  One  kind-hearted  merchant  gave  the 
Willie  Company  fifteen  pairs  of  boots.  The  summer  sun  bronzed 
the  skin  of  these  travelers  and  toughened  the  muscles.    The  Com- 


OREGON   TRAIL   TREK    NO.    FIVE  181 

panics  arrived  at  Florence,  Nebraska,  on  August  1 1  th  and  22nd 
respectively. 

Here  an  important  mass  meeting  of  the  two  companies  was 
called.  They  must  determine  whether  to  continue  the  journey  so 
late  in  the  season  or  wait  at  the  old  site  of  Winter  Quarters  for 
the  return  of  another  Spring.  Eager  voices  in  the  group  clamored 
to  go  ahead;  the  more  cautious  warned  of  the  difficulties  that 
might  beset  them.  Levi  Savage,  a  veteran  of  the  Old  Trail  and  a 
returning  missionary,  counseled  the  old  and  sickly  to  remain  until 
another  Spring.  Tears  rolled  down  his  cheeks  as  he  foresaw  that 
if  such  took  the  journey  that  late  in  the  season,  their  bones  would 
strew  the  way. 

Certainly  these  emigrants  were  anything  but  seasoned  veterans 
for  such  a  journey.  Recruited  from  the  milder  climates  of  Europe, 
they  would  be  marching  into  altitudes  from  five  thousand  feet  at 
Devil's  Gate  to  eight  thousand  feet  at  the  top  of  Big  Mountain. 
But  the  final  decision  was  made.  They  would  go  on!  There  was 
merriment  and  laughter  as  they  began  the  westward  trek.  A 
marching  song,  sung  to  the  rhythm  of  the  step,  helped  them  forget 
the  intense  heat  of  an  August  sun  and  the  stifling  dust.  It  went 
like  this: 

For  some  must  push  and  some  must  pull. 

As  we  go  marching  up  the  hill. 

As  merrily  on  our  way  we  go. 

Until  we  reach  the  Valley  Oh. 

Gradually  the  landmarks  of  the  Old  Trail  disappeared  behind 
them.  Ash  Hollow,  Chimney  Rock,  that  proud  sentinel  of  the 
Platte  Valley,  Scotts  Bluff,  and  then  Fort  Laramie.  At  the  Fort 
many  bartered  trinkets  for  extra  food.  Up  to  this  time  the  daily 
ration  of  flour  had  been  one  pound  per  person.  From  now  on  it 
would  be  necessary  to  cut  the  rations  to  three-fourths  and  later 
to  one-half  pound.  *^ 

It  was  early  October  now.  Heavy  frosts  covered  the  tents  and 
blankets  of  those  who  slept  out  on  those  bleak  plateaus.  Deaths 
were  occurring  more  frequently.  The  collapsing  carts  became 
a  bitter  trial  to  those  whose  steps  were  already  faltering  because 
of  short  rations,  fatigue  and  exhaustion. 

The  Willie  Company  was  about  two  weeks'  travel  ahead  of  the 
Martin.  On  October  18th  the  Martin  Handcarters  reached  the 
last  crossing  of  the  North  Platte  at  Red  Buttes.  They  waded  the 
stream  and  when  scarcely  across,  rain,  hail  and  sleet  began  to  fall. 
Here  the  elements  took  their  first  heavy  toll  from  among  the 
weakened  party.  The  storm  raged  unabated  for  three  days.  A 
caravan  of  six  wagons,  carrying  flour  and  other  supplies,  and  led 
by  C.  H.  Whellock,  Dan  Jones  and  Abel  Garr,  reached  them  here. 
It  was  a  time  of  rejoicing — but  not  for  long. 

There  was  a  foot  of  snow  on  the  ground.    The  Emigrants  must 


OREGON   TRAIL   TREK   NO.    FIVE  183 

go  on.  Their  patient,  dull  plodding  must  continue  until  some 
place  of  refuge  from  the  storm  was  found.  As  we  stand  here  at 
this  monument  (The  Martin  Handcart)  and  look  directly  East 
toward  those  low  bluffs,  there  is  a  place  known  as  Martin's  Cove. 
Here  the  people  huddled  together  to  await  help  or  die.  The  same 
storm  had  halted  the  Willie  Company  at  Rock  Creek,  enroute 
over  South  Pass. 

In  Salt  Lake  City,  President  Brigham  Young  knew  nothing  of 
these  last  two  companies  of  Pilgrims  belatedly  coming  to  the 
Valley  until  returning  missionaries  brought  the  sad  tidings.  It 
was  October  Conference  time.  All  meetings  were  promptly  ad- 
journed. Urgent  calls  were  issued  for  men,  teams,  wagons,  warm 
bedding,  food.  When  the  last  call  was  answered,  one  hundred  four 
wagons  and  more  than  two  hundred  fifty  teams  were  on  the  road 
to  bring  relief  to  these  stricken  people. 

The  bright  side  of  this  chapter  in  westward  emigration  is  the 
way  the  Mormon  people  responded  to  the  call  from  those  in 
distress.  Men  driving  the  wagons  scarcely  took  time  to  eat  or 
sleep.  The  head  wagons  in  this  rescue  party  met  Captain  Willie 
and  companions  who  had  gone  in  search  of  help. 

The  rescuers  reached  the  Willie  Camp  first.  Great  fires  were 
built,  food,  clothing  and  bedding  distributed.  "Eat  all  you  want", 
they  told  the  Camp,  "more  is  on  the  way".  Said  one  handcarter 
"Angels  from  the  Courts  of  Glory  could  not  have  been  more  wel- 
come than  these  brethren  who  had  come  to  their  rescue". 

Part  of  the  rescue  party  pushed  ahead  to  aid  the  Martin  Com- 
pany, encamped  about  two  miles  north  and  east  of  Devil's  Gate. 
The  camp  had  become  a  veritable  graveyard.  But  help  had  come 
at  last.  There  was  warmth  and  food  and  shelter  in  the  wagons. 
The  handcarts  and  personal  belongings  of  the  Martin  Company 
were  left  at  Devil's  Gate  in  charge  of  twenty  men.  The  first  con- 
tingent of  the  rescued  reached  Salt  Lake  City  on  November  9  th. 
It  was  a  day  of  rejoicing  and  of  many  tears.  The  Martin  pioneers 
arrived  November  30th.  Every  relief  that  shelter,  food,  clothing, 
kindness  and  devoted  attention  could  bring  from  the  people  of 
Salt  Lake  Valley  was  afforded  them. 

The  casualties  in  the  Willie  Company  numbered  sixty-six. 
Those  in  the  Martin  Company  numbered  one  hundred  thirty-five, 
or  a  total  of  two  hundred  and  one  persons. 

As  we  hastily  scan  the  pages  of  Western  History,  there  is  no 
instance  in  all  the  migrations  westward  where  greater  faith  in  a 
cause,  the  courage  to  endure,  and  a  determination  to  fight  through 
to  the  end,  was  more  boldly  demonstrated  than  by  those  valliant 
folk  who  proved  themselves  the  bone  and  sinew  and  the  un-sung 
heroes  of  the  lands  from  which  they  came. 

10:35  A.M.    Departed  from  Martin's  Cove. 

1 1 :  00  A.M.    Arrived  at  the  site  of  the  Plont  Pony  Express  and 


184  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Stage  Station  (21 71/2  M.)  where  Jack  Slade  killed  2  men.     The 
Jackson  Ranch  was  located  a  short  distance  to  the  north. 

Mrs.  Tom  Sun  Related  the  Story  of  the  Plont  Pony  Express 
and  Stage  Station. 

There  is  no  record,  as  far  as  I  know,  of  the  dates  this  old 
Plont  Stage  and  Pony  Express  Station  was  operated  by  a  French- 
man named  Plont.  Jack  Slade,  who  operated  the  stage  stations 
through  this  area  at  that  time,  was  hung  in  Virginia  City,  Montana, 
in  1864,  not  for  any  of  his  more  vicious  misdeeds,  but  for  riding 
his  horse  into  the  general  store.  The  dates  for  the  station  were 
earlier  than  that. 

It  was  known  that  Slade  used  various  high  handed  and  unethical 
methods  to  dispose  of  his  enemies.  At  this  Station,  about  the  year 
1 862,  Jack  Slade  and  his  hirelings  killed  two  men  and  buried  them 
near  this  Station.  (He  claimed  they  were  going  to  hold  up  the 
stage).  Later,  probably  about  1875,  a  man  by  the  name  of  A.  M. 
Jackson  started  a  ranch  here.  His  buildings  were  just  north  of 
here  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Sweetwater  River. 

The  story  is  told  that  thirteen  years  later  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Hall,  working  for  Jackson  in  digging  a  cellar,  found  the  remains 
of  these  two  men.  They  were  covered  over  with  earth  and  poles 
and  their  bodies  were  in  a  good  state  of  preservation.  The  earth 
was  replaced  over  the  poles  and  the  cellar  dug  in  another  place. 

The  following  letter,  written  to  Mrs.  Tom  Sun,  Sr.  in  1935, 
sheds  some  light  on  the  time  Mr.  Jackson  operated  this  ranch : 

ANDREW  M.  JACKSON 
Sioux  City,  Iowa 
November  29,  1935 
Mrs.  Tom  Son: 
My  dear  Mrs.  Tom  Son: 

I  am  in  receipt  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Mcintosh  and  in  it  he  spoke 
about  you. 

Mrs.  Son  I  knew  you  before  you  were  married  to  my  good 
friend,  Tom  Son.  I  threw  the  first  herd  of  cattle  into  the  Sweet 
Water  valley.  My  ranch  was  about  6  miles  up  the  Sweet  Water 
from  Mr.  Son's  ranch.  This  was  over  50  years  ago  (before  1885). 
Your  husband  (Tom  Sun,  Sr.)  was  always  a  staunch  friend  of 
mine,  and  some  of  my  friends  hke  Boni  Ernest,  Frank  Ernest  and 
Jim  Cantlin  of  Sand  Creek  were  often  with  me  at  Mr.  Son's  ranch 
at  Devils  Gate.  I  never  expect  to  have  such  friends  as  these 
gentlemen  again.  It  is  a  pleasure  for  me  to  write  to  you  and  I  hope 
that  you  are  well  and  will  be  spared  many,  many  years. 

Wishing  you  a  merry  Christmas  and  a  Happy  New  Year,  I  am, 
your  friend  of  over  50  years  ago. 

(Signed)  A.  M.  Jackson 
amj:hv 


OREGON   TRAIL   TREK   NO.    FIVE  185 

When  Durbin  Bros,  bought  the  ranch  from  A.  M.  Jackson  they 
moved  the  buildings  about  one-half  mile  west,  where  we  will  turn 
north  from  the  old  Emigrant  road  on  which  we  are  now.  The 
Plont  Station  was  just  south  of  the  old  road  and  the  Jackson 
buildings  a  few  hundred  feet  north.  There  is  very  little  evidence 
of  any  human  habitation  at  any  of  these  places  today,  as  you 
can  see. 

I  regret  that  we  do  not  know  the  exact  dates  of  the  foregoing 
information  but  believe  the  basic  information,  which  has  been 
furnished  by  my  husband,  Tom  Sun,  Jr.,  to  be  substantially  correct. 

11:15  A.M.  Departed  2IIV2  M.  In  one  half  mile  paused  at 
location  of  Durbin  (successor  to  Jackson)  Ranch  buildings  then 
detoured  south-west  leaving  the  old  road  to  our  right,  as  it  was 
not  practical  to  travel  it  the  next  AVi  miles.  At  2221/2  M,  re- 
entered the  old  road  near  location  of  an  old  Stage  Station  V4  mile 
west  of  Turkey  Track  Ranch.  The  road  forks  here.  We  took 
the  right  or  north  branch. 

12:10  P.M.  Arrived  opposite  location  of  old  Split  Rock  Pony 
Express  and  Stage  Station  (230  M).  The  old  buildings  were 
in  what  is  now  a  meadow  below  a  ditch  some  500  feet  north  of 
our  stop.  The  south  branch  from  222^/2  M.  joins  the  north 
branch  here. 

Miss  Lola  Homsher  prepared  a  paper  on  the  Split  Rock  Pony 
Express  and  Stage  Station.  This  was  read  by  Mrs.  Daley  from 
Rawlins. 

The  history  of  the  majority  of  the  stations  on  the  old  Pony 
Express  and  Stage  lines  is  yet  to  be  written,  and  only  scattered 
mention  can  be  located  about  them. 

Split  Rock  station  is  mentioned  in  government  mail  contracts 
for  the  stage  and  pony  express  line  as  one  of  the  stations  oa  the 
central  mail  route.  It  apparently  was  not  one  of  the  "home 
stations",  and  it  seems  to  have  but  little  recorded  history. 

According  to  the  Wyoming  Guide  issued  by  the  Wyoming 
Writers  Project  in  1941,  the  station  was  erected  by  Russell,  Majors 
and  Waddell  in  1859,  at  which  time  their  freighting  and  stage 
business  was  at  its  height,  and  the  year  before  the  Pony  Express 
was  started. 

Quoting  from  the  Guide,  we  learn  that  "Deep  in  the  Shoshone 
country,  the  station  escaped  the  wrath  of  the  eastern  and  northern 
tribes.  But,  in  March,  1862,  the  traditionally  friendly  Shoshone 
went  on  the  warpath,  striking  simultaneously  at  every  station 
between  Platte  Bridge  and  Bear  River.  Drivers,  station  attendants, 
and  guards,  taken  completely  by  surprise,  permitted  them  to 
capture  every  horse  and  mule  belonging  to  the  company  in  this 
area;  coaches  laden  with  passengers  and  freight  were  left  standing 
where   encountered.     At   President   Lincoln's   request,   Brigham 


OREGON   TRAIL   TREK   NO.    FIVE  187 

Young  sent  the  Mormon  Battalion,  300  volunteers  under  the  com- 
mand of  Captain  Lot  Smith,  to  quiet  the  Indians. 

"The  Shoshone  killed  nobody,  except  at  Split  Rock.  Here  they 
ordered  a  Negro,  who  had  lived  only  among  the  Pennsylvania 
Dutch,  to  prepare  a  meal.  When  he  did  not  understand,  the 
Shoshone  killed  him  and  helped  themselves  to  the  larder." 

Split  Rock  Station  existed  between  the  years  1859-1862.  But, 
although  recorded  history  of  this  particular  stage  station  is  scanty, 
much  of  the  area's  early  history  passed  in  review  at  this  point: 
the  trappers,  traders,  missionaries,  the  '49'ers,  the  settlers,  the 
freighters,  the  early  stage  line  of  John  M.  Hockaday  and  William 
Liggett,  the  later  great  stage  and  freight  line  of  Russell,  Majors 
and  Waddell  (who  bought  out  Hockaday  in  1859),  the  Pony 
Express,  the  overland  telegraph  hne,  all  passed  within  sight  of  the 
famous  landmark  for  which  the  station  was  named.  The  central 
route  and  the  stations  were  abandoned  as  a  practical  line  to  the 
West  in  1862  because  of  Indian  hostilities,  at  which  time  the 
southern  Overland  Trail  became  the  great  road  to  the  West. 

Jule  Farlow  added  interest  by  telling  the  following  story. 

In  the  spring  of  '68  when  the  gold  excitement  was  at  its  height 
in  South  Pass  and  Atlantic  City,  there  was  a  party  made  up  of 
miners  and  teamsters  in  Fort  Laramie  who  wanted  to  go  to  South 
Pass  City.  On  the  10th  day  of  March  in  1868  fifteen  men,  one 
woman,  two  children,  and  eight  wagons  mostly  drawn  by  ox  teams 
left  Fort  Laramie  to  go  to  South  Pass.  In  this  party  of  western 
men  was  W.  P.  Noble  who  was  driving  an  ox  team  for  Jules 
Lamoreaux.  Mitch  Seminole  was  also  along.  Lamoreaux  told 
me  of  this  trip  more  than  once.  W.  P.  Noble  also  verified  his 
statements. 

Here  is  the  story  as  told  by  Mr.  Noble:  "We  started  out  on  a 
fine  morning  and  there  was  a  lot  of  feed  for  the  cattle.  I  flrove 
three  yoke  of  cattle  hitched  to  two  wagons  for  Jule,  and  he  drove 
four  yoke  hitched  to  two  wagons.  When  we  got  near  the  spot 
where  Orin  Junction  is  now  located  we  were  attacked  by  Indians 
in  the  day  time.  They  rode  to  the  hills  at  some  distance  from  us 
and  shot  at  us  but  were  too  far  away  to  harm  us.  This  seemed 
to  be  a  small  party  and  they  soon  left  us.  Again,  when  near  the 
present  site  of  Casper  we  were  attacked,  so  corralled  our  wagons 
and  remained  in  this  position  all  night.  In  the  morning  no  trace 
of  Indians  could  be  seen  and  we  resumed  our  journey.  Near 
Split  Rock  on  the  Sweetwater  we  were  suddenly  surrounded  by  a 
large  war  party  and  it  looked  as  though  our  time  had  come.  We 
hastily  corralled  our  wagons  and  got  ready  for  the  fight  of  our 
lives,  so  it  seemed.  The  Indians  were  all  around  us  and  within 
two  hundred  yards.  There  was  shouting  and  yelling  by  the 
Indians  with  arrows  flying  and  now  and  then  a  bullet  hitting  our 
wagons. 


188  ANNAI.S  OF  WYOMING 

"Wc  thought  it  was  all  over — that  it  would  be  our  last  fight, 
when  all  at  once  Mrs.  Lamoreaux,  a  Sioux  woman  whose  name 
was  Woman  Dress,  began  shouting  at  the  top  of  her  voice.  She 
climbed  down  out  of  the  wagon  in  which  she  and  her  two  children 
were  riding.  She  had  a  strong  voice  and  she  had  recognized  our 
assailant's  voices  as  Sioux.  She  stepped  boldly  out  in  sight  and 
this  is  what  she  said,  M  am  Woman  Dress,  sister  of  your  chief.  Gall. 
Beware  lest  you  harm  me  and  my  two  children  here.  Go  away 
or  you  will  rue  it.'  They  told  her  to  step  out  where  they  could  see 
her.  She  did  and  the  attack,  was  over.  The  whole  party  owed 
their  lives  to  this  brave  Indian  woman. 

Her  little  daughter,  Lizzie,  told  me  she  remembered  this  fight 
and  wanted  to  peek  out  of  the  wagon  to  see  the  battle  but  her 
mother  gave  her  a  good  spanking  to  keep  her  down  in  the  box. 

Noble  said  they  pulled  in  on  Willow  Creek  below  South  Pass 
on  the  24th  of  April.  On  the  25th  Jules'  wife  presented  him 
with  another  boy.  He  was  born  under  a  bunch  of  willows  so  they 
called  him,  WILLOW.  Later  it  was  changed  to  Willie  who  was 
our  Bill  Lamoreaux. 

The  Lamoreaux  family  were  real  pioneers  of  Wyoming.  The 
family  consisted  of  four  boys  and  four  girls.  Jules  Lamoreaux 
died  in  December,  1914;  Mrs.  Lamoreaux  died  in  April,  1908; 
George  Lamoreaux  died  in  December,  1916;  Phoebe  died  in 
October,  1923;  and  Lizzie  in  August,  1932.  I  don't  know  when 
Dore,  Mary,  or  Dick  died.  Bill  Lamoreaux  was  also  known  as 
Smiling  Fox  by  the  Indians. 

12:30  P.M.  Departed  from  Split  Rock  and  drove  two  miles 
(232  M)  to  an  old  CCC  Camp  where  the  Caravan  stopped  forty 
minutes  for  lunch. 

1  :20  P.M.  The  trek  continued  on  the  Highway  across  Cotton- 
wood Creek,  where  we  turned  north  to  enter  the  old  road.  At 
(235  M)  the  ruts  in  the  sandstone  were  nearly  two  feet  deep. 

IVIaurine  Carley  told  about  the  ruts  and  the  so-called  Castle 
Rock,  which  is  visible  a  few  miles  to  the  south  east. 

It  is  indeed  remarkable  that  these  ruts  in  the  sandstone  are  plain 
after  not  being  used  for  nearly  100  years.  While  there  is  no  way 
to  check  on  the  number  of  wagons  that  passed  here  between  the 
lH30's  and  the  1870's  it  was  certain  that  they  numbered  in  the 
hundreds  of  thousands. 

The  four  pairs  of  plain  wagon-wheel  ruts  here  are  concrete 
evidence  of  the  fact  that  when  possible  the  caravans  traveled  four 
abreast.  Over  much  of  the  distance  across  Wyoming  there  were 
many  separated  roads,  but  at  this  point  there  was  only  one,  as  far 
as  anyone  knows  today.  No  other  trail  crossed  West.  All 
traveled  here,  cutting  these  ruts. 

The  so-called  Castle  Rock  which  you  see  about  one  mile  to  the 


OKI.CiON     IKAII.     IRI.K     NO.    IIVI,  I  X'> 

southeast  was  named  because  of  the  type  of  structure  which  resem- 
bles room  enclosures  ;md  it  gives  the  general  effect  of  a  castle. 
(I  his  Castle  Rock  is  not  to  be  confused  with  ;i  lielter  known  one 
bearing  the  s;ime  n;inie  near  (ireen  River.) 

Niinies  have  been  c;irved  on  all  sides  of  this  castle  but  the 
oldest  na/iics  are  found  on  the  north  lace.  I  he  oldest  name  found 
there  is  that  of  W.  K.  Sublette  June  17,  IK49.  He  was  not  one 
of  the  famous  Sublette  brothers  for  whom  Sublette  County  has 
been  named.  Their  names  were  Andrew,  SoloiTion  P.,  Milton 
Cj.,  Pinkney  W.,  and  William  L. 

W.  K.  Sublette— 1849 — could  not  have  been  W.  L.  Sublette 
even  if  the  second  initial  is  not  too  clear  as  W.  I,,  died  in  1X45 
and  was  buried  in  St.  Louis.  Today  I  can  find  no  reference  to 
W.  K.  Sublette  in  the  Historical  Departnient  in  Cheyenne.  He 
n)ay  have  been  related  to  the  famous  brothers.  He  may  never 
have  heard  of  them.  He  probably  was  a  gold  seeker  as  the  date 
indicates. 

Other  names  carved  in  the  rock  and  still  legible  are  William 
.lennings  .lune  15,  IK53;  f).  L.  Ihomas  -.June  10,  IS63-  Wis.; 
A.  Craig  May  28,  1850;  A.  Kraft— Aug.  23,  1884;  and  C.  Kraft— 
Aug.  21,  1881  and  Aug.  23,  1884 

A  few  hundred  feet  to  the  north  east  is  a  similar  but  smaller 
promontory  but  of  softer  sandstone  where  a  few  names  and  dates 
are  at  present  partly  legible.  It  is  too  bad  that  many  of  these 
names  are  disappearing.  What  can  be  done  to  preserve  these 
authentic  bits  of  history  for  the  distant  future? 

2:00  f^.M.  The  party  left  the  sandstone  ruts  and  continued  on 
its  way. 

2:30  P.M.  The  caravan  arrived  at  241  M.  opposite  crossing 
Number  2,  which  is  Number  I  of  the  three  famous  f  hree  Crossings 
of  the  Sweetwater. 

Mr.  Lester  Barley  addres.sed  the  Kroup  on  I'he  Three  Cross- 
ings. 

We  are  now  near  the  point  which  was  designated  on  tlie  old 
trail  as  'Ihe  Three  Crossings.  The  Three  Crossings  Station  was 
about  3/4  mile  north  of  this  point,  just  south  of  the  gap  which 
you  see  in  the  distance.  It  was  so  nanied  because  as  the  Sweet- 
water River  nears  the  gap  to  the  north  it  winds  back  and  forth 
across  the  narrow  valley,  making  it  necessary  for  travellers  to 
ford  the  river  three  times  within  a  very  short  distance. 

The  trail  divided  near  Ihe  Three  Crossings.  C)ne  branch  went 
through  the  gorge  which  you  see  directly  to  the  north  and  another 
cut  out  to  the  west  around  the  hill.  Although  both  of  these  roads 
were  used,  it  is  believed  that  the  one  which  passes  through  the  gap 
was  used  most  by  early  migrations.  Ihe  emigrants  kept  to  the 
stream  in  order  to  have  water  and  forage  for  their  animals.     'Ihe 


190  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

road  which  branches  to  the  northwest  became  the  much  used 
freight  road. 

The  first  Pony  Express  station  was  built  here  in  the  fall  of  1859 
and  was  used  during  the  Pony  Express  period  which  began  April 
3,  1860,  and  was  discontinued  October  24,  1861.  It  may  be  of 
interest  to  note  that  only  valuable  and  important  mail  was  carried 
by  the  Pony  Express,  the  rate  being  $5.00  for  each  one-half  ounce. 
With  the  connecting  of  the  overland  telegraph  at  Salt  Lake  City 
important  messages  could  be  telegraphed  as  cheaply  and  more 
rapidly,  and  the  Pony  Express  was  put  out  of  business. 

Ben  Holladay,  the  famous  "stagecoach  king"  received  the  con- 
tract to  carry  the  Overland  stage  from  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  to 
Salt  Lake  City.  The  first  coach  left  St.  Joseph  on  July  1,  1861. 
The  Three  Crossings  Station  was  one  of  the  principal  stage  stops. 
This  stage  line  was  transferred  to  a  more  southern  route  via  the 
South  Platte,  LaPorte,  Virginia  Dale  and  Bridger  Pass  on  July 
18,  1862. 

Holladay  operated  the  stage  past  this  point  for  slightly  over  a 
year,  during  which  time  he  sustained  heavy  losses  as  a  result  of 
Indian  depredations.  During  that  time  The  Three  Crossings 
Station  was  burned,  three  oxen  were  stolen  from  Holladay,  two 
coaches  were  damaged  in  an  Indian  battle,  four  horses  were  taken, 
39  sets  of  stage  harness,  and  38  mules  were  taken,  for  a  total 
loss  to  him  of  $14,490.00. 

In  July  of  1861  The  Three  Crossings  Station  was  designated 
as  a  United  States  Post  Office. 

Due  to  the  nature  of  the  terrain  and  the  gap  just  ahead,  this  was 
a  spot  frequently  selected  for  raiding  parties  by  both  Indians  and 
road  agents.  One  of  the  most  prominent  encounters  occurred  on 
April  17,  1862,  near  this  point.  A  mail  party,  consisting  of  nine 
men  and  two  coaches,  left  Atchison  on  April  2,  1862.  On  the 
17th  they  were  attacked  by  the  Indians.  Mr.  T.  S.  Boardman, 
one  of  the  party,  writes  of  the  engagement: 

"We  drove  to  the  top  of  a  slight  elevation  to  the  left  of  the  road; 
the  other  coach  was  driven  up  along  side,  distant  about  ten  feet; 
mules  badly  frightened;  one  of  them  was  shot  through  the  mouth, 
and  the  bullets  whistling  rapidly  among  them  it  was  thought  best 
to  let  them  go.  They  were  accordingly  cut  loose  and  were  soon 
driven  up  a  canon  to  the  southwest  of  the  road,  by  some  ten  or 
twelve  Indians.  Everything  that  could  afford  protection,  mail 
sacks,  blankets,  buffalo  robes,  etc.,  were  thrown  out  of  the 
coaches  and  from  the  front  boots,  and  were  placed  upon  the  north 
and  south  sides  between  the  coaches,  against  the  wheels  and  along 
the  east  side  of  us,  behind  which  we  barricaded  ourselves.  James 
Brown  who  was  standing  by  the  hind  wheel  of  one  of  the  coaches, 
then  received  a  shot  in  the  left  side  of  the  face  .  .  .  Lem  Flowers 
(Division  Agent)  was  then  struck  in  the  hip  .  .  .  Phil  Rogers 
received  two  arrows  in  the  right  shoulder  .  .  .  James  Anderson 


OREGON  TRAIL   TREK   NO.    FIVE  191 

was  shot  through  the  left  leg,  and  William  Reed  through  ths  small 
of  the  back  .  .  . 

"The  bullets  pattered  Uke  hail  upon  the  sacks  that  protected  us. 
We  returned  the  fire  with  our  rifles  and  revolvers  whenever  we 
got  sight  of  any  of  the  foe,  reserving  most  of  our  revolver  shots 
for  their  charges.  They  charged  upon  us  twice,  but  the  volleys 
that  we  poured  upon  them  repelled  them.  About  four  o'clock 
p.m.  they  withdrew  in  parties  of  two  and  threes  .  .  .  We  soon 
determined  to  get  away  if  we  could,  with  the  wounded  to  the 
next  station." 

They  uncoupled  one  of  the  coaches,  spread  some  blankets  on 
the  running  gears  and  attempted  to  draw  the  wounded  to  safety 
upon  this  improvised  ambulance.  However,  this  process  was  slow 
and  hard  and  was  soon  given  up.  Instead,  the  wounded  were 
helped  along  by  a  man  on  each  side. 

"After  a  fatiguing  walk  of  eight  miles  we  reached  the  station  of 
Three  Crossings.  Here  we  found  the  station  keeper,  wife  and 
three  children,  and  the  men  employed  by  the  Company,  who 
informed  us  that  Indians — probably  the  same  band — had  stolen 
all  the  mules  and  eight  head  of  cattle  the  night  before." 

Here  the  station  house  and  stable  were  made  into  a  fort.  Some 
of  the  cattle  returned,  and  on  the  21st  these  were  yoked  to  a 
wagon  and  the  party  moved  westward,  reaching  Fort  Bridger  on 
the  2nd  of  May,  where  the  wounded  were  properly  cared  for  in 
the  hospital. 

The  Three  Crossings  Station  is  rich  in  the  history  of  many 
exciting  episodes.  It  is  to  this  station  that  Bill  Cody  claimed  he 
galloped  on  his  Pony  Express  ride  from  Red  Buttes,  only  to  find 
that  the  station  had  been  burned  and  the  station  master  killed. 
After  securing  a  fresh  mount  which  had  not  been  driven  away 
by  the  Indians,  he  rode  on  to  Rocky  Ridge  station  and  returhed 
to  Red  Buttes,  having  ridden  a  distance  of  322  miles  in  21  hours 
— a  feat  unequalled  in  recorded  history. 

Jackson,  "picture  maker  of  the  old  west",  gives  the  following 
information  about  one  of  his  pictures  of  this  station: 

"Near  the  abandoned  Station  was  this  grave  of  a  United  States 
soldier,  killed  at  Three  Crossings  during  the  Indian  raids  in  April, 
1862.  Washakie  and  his  Shoshones  were  accused  of  these  opera- 
tions against  the  line  of  the  Overland  Stages  between  Fort  Laramie 
and  Green  River,  but  that  wily  chief  established  his  innocence. 
Later  on,  it  appeared  that  the  attacks  were  the  work  of  wandering 
hostiles  from  several  tribes  under  the  leadership  of  renegade 
whites." 

During  the  stage  coach  period  The  Three  Crossings  Station  was 
rebuilt  of  stone  and  logs.  The  main  part  of  the  building  was  a 
large  stone  structure  which  was  flanked  by  log  houses  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  stockade  to  the  south.  A  lookout  was  erected  on 
the  northwest  corner. 


192  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

On  May  20,  1865,  Indians  attacked  this  station,  reportedly 
500  to  600  in  number.  The  telegraph  line  was  cut  but  the  station 
withstood  the  seige.  It  was  during  this  attack,  so  the  story  goes, 
that  Bill  Cody,  the  former  Pony  Express  rider,  drove  the  stage 
coach.  Years  later  in  his  great  wild  west  show  he  often  enacted 
the  scene  of  the  stage  coach  being  attacked  by  Indians. 

During  part  of  the  stage  coach  period  The  Three  Crossings 
Station  was  looked  forward  to  as  a  place  of  rest  and  good  food. 
Many  stories  tell  of  the  very  fine  venison  and  other  wild  meat 
which  was  made  available  to  those  who  stopped  at  the  station  for 
a  meal. 

Some  of  the  earliest  whitp  men  to  traverse  this  area  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Ashley-Smith  expeditions  of  1822-1829.  The  follow- 
ing account  appears  in  "The  Ashley-Smith  Explorations  and  the 
Discovery  of  a  Central  Route  to  the  Pacific" : 

"In  February  1 824  they  decided  to  attempt  a  more  southerly 
crossing  and  so  moved  up  the  Popo  Agie  to  the  vicinity  of  the 
present  town  of  Lander,  whence  they  went  south  to  the  valley  of 
the  Sweetwater  just  above  the  so-called  "Three  crossings."  With 
the  breaking  up  of  winter  the  expedition  cached  part  of  their 
powder  and  lead,  and  in  the  last  days  of  February  1824  started 
westward  through  a  barren  land  where  their  only  water  was 
secured  from  melting  snow.  They  discovered  shortly  that  they 
had  crossed  the  main  divide  when  they  reached  the  banks  of  the 
Sandy.  On  the  twentieth  of  February  they  were  on  Green  River. 
This  is  the  first  recorded  use  of  the  South  pass  from  east  to  west. 
The  returning  Astorians  had  apparently  been  unaware  of  its 
existence  until  they  actually  came  through  it  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion nearly  twelve  years  before." 

The  old  emigrant  road  (South  branch  of  the  Oregon  Trail)  that 
we  took  from  241  M.  to  Home  on  the  Range  (246V2  M)  was 
sandy  in  places  and  some  of  the  cars  got  stuck,  causing  a  loss  of 
one  hour. 

The  22  remaining  cars  drove  on  the  Highway  direct  to  Ice 
Slough  Creek  (257  M.)  thereby  missing  several  miles  of  the  old 
trail  that  we  had  planned  to  travel. 

Mr.  Clark  Bishop  addressed  the  group  as  follows: 

The  south  branch  of  the  old  emigrant  road  crossed  at  this  point 
on  the  Highway.  Looking  to  the  northeast  you  can  plainly  see 
the  scar  left  by  the  thousands  of  teams,  wagons  and  people  that 
traveled  there.  The  distance  from  here  to  the  fourth  crossing  of 
the  Sweetwater  River  is  five  and  one  half  miles  east,  and  the  fifth 
crossing  is  1 2  miles  west  making  the  distance  between  the  4th  and 
5th  crossings  17V^  miles.  The  Emigrant  Guide  shows  the  distance 
from  the  4th  crossing  to  the  Ice  Spring  to  be  five  and  three  quarters 


OREGON   TRAIL   TREK   NO.    FIVE  193 

miles  which  makes  the  spring  come  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  west 
of  here.  The  south  branch  of  the  old  road  that  we  left  at  Home 
on  the  Range  enters  this  main  branch  at  252 Vi  M  or  five  miles 
east  of  here. 

The  slough  you  see  here,  which  at  present  is  nearly  dry,  was 
known  as  Ice  Slough.  Some  of  the  old  diaries  relate  that  ice  was 
found  at  a  depth  of  18  inches. 

We  are  fortunate  in  having  with  us  today,  Mr.  Bruce  McKinstry 
of  Riverside,  Illinois,  whose  grandfather,  Byron  McKinstry,  trav- 
eled this  road  in  1852.  I  am  asking  Mr.  McKinstry  to  say  a  few 
words  and  read  from  the  diary  of  his  grandfather. 

Mr.  McKinstry  read  the  following  from  the  Byron  N.  McKin- 
stry diary: 

"July  6th  Saturday.  (1852)  Cool  in  the  morning,  hot  sun, 
then  a  Thunder  and  wind  shower  in  the  afternoon  —  the  dust 
sufficient  to  smother  one.  Forded  the  river  in  6  miles  and  then 
take  to  the  hills  in  6  miles  farther,  came  to  the  famous  ice  springs. 
These  are  in  a  long  wide  Slough  or  Swamp,  mirey  and  covered 
with  a  fine  coat  of  grass  but  the  cattle  cannot  get  at  it.  In  the 
Swamp  I  noticed  numerous  little  elevations  with  higher  grass  on 
them  with  Springs  boiling  up  in  their  centre.  The  coldest  water 
that  I  ever  saw,  and  the  worst  tasted.  I  could  shake  the  grass 
for  three  or  four  rods  around  me.  It  is  a  perfect  quagmire.  The 
guide  says  that  Ice  may  be  found  by  digging  down  two  feet.  But 
I  found  none,  though  I  had  nothing  to  dig  with  but  I  ran  my  arm 
into  the  mud  in  many  places,  and  though  the  mud  was  as  cold 
as  Ice  I  could  find  none  of  the  latter.  The  mud  has  a  bad  smell 
and  I  should  not  like  to  drink  much  of  the  water  for  fear  of  its 
being  poisenous.  We  nooned  here,  our  cattle  got  nothing.  In 
V^  m.  we  came  to  an  Alkali  Lake  with  some  beautiful  incrustati6ns 
three  inches  thick  of  pure  white  Seleratas  (or  nearly  so).  Came 
to  the  river  after  leaving  it  for  16Vi  m,  finding  neither  grass  nor 
water,  heavy  rough  roads,  Sand  &  Sage.  When  we  got  to  the 
river  at  Ford  No.  5  we  found  no  grass,  all  eat  into  the  ground. 
So  we  tied  up  our  cattle  without  their  having  anything  to  eat, 
though  they  had  travelled  22  m.  without  anything.  We  overtook 
Miller,  Wm.  Jackson  very  sick,  also  Mrs.  Hall.  Hibbard  no  better. 
The  Mountains  in  the  N.  W.  show  finely,  covered  with  snow 
almost  to  their  bases.  To  the  South  the  snow  lays  in  patches 
near  the  top  and  covers  but  a  small  part  of  the  Mountains,  while 
those  in  the  N.  W.  are  perfectly  white.    Made  22  miles." 

Mr.  Bishop  thanked  Mr.  McKinstry  then  explained  it  had  been 
necessary  to  skip  eleven  miles  of  the  old  road  between  Home  on 
the  Range  and  Ice  Slough  because  of  sand.  The  old  road  is  plain 
from  here  to  the  fifth  crossing  of  the  Sweetwater  but  the  last  five 
miles  are  too  rough  for  auto  travel. 


194  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

The  next  trek  will  start  just  west  of  the  river  near  the  fifth 
crossing  and  will  probably  go  to  Pacific  Springs. 

The  group,  which  was  assembled  on  the  north  side  of  the  High- 
way about  100  feet  east  of  the  ice  slough,  lingered  for  an  addi- 
tional half  hour  and  did  their  best  to  finish  the  excellent  lunch 
of  fried  chicken  and  the  trimmings  left  over  from  noon.  Pictures 
were  taken  and  the  party  disbanded  at  five  o'clock. 

Following  is  a  short  summary  of  Trek  No.  5  by  Mrs.  P.  E. 
Daley,  Rawlins,  Wyoming  and  Frances  Seely  Webb,  Casper, 
Wyoming. 

On  July  17  after  visiting  the  interesting  Tom  Sun  Ranch,  one 
hundred  Oregon  Trailers  of  '55  traveled  in  a  forty  car  cavalcade 
along  passable  portions  of  the  old  Oregon  Trail  for  fifty-one  miles 
as  far  west  as  the  Ice  Slough. 

Preceded  and  followed  by  Highway  Patrol  Officers,  the  caravan 
was  well-protected. 

Mrs.  A.  R.  Boyack  gave  a  paper  on  the  tragic  experiences  of 
the  Hand  Cart  company  as  the  group  stopped  near  the  site  of 
their  camp  at  Martin's  Cove.  Here  they  were  caught  by  an  early 
storm,  and  many  of  them  perished  for  lack  of  food  and  warm 
clothing.  Many  of  them  were  newly  arrived  English  converts  to 
Mormonism,  and  all  of  them  totally  unprepared  for  this  rigorous 
trip. 

Other  historical  spots  visited  were  the  Plont  Pony  Express 
Station,  old  Split  Rock  Pony  Express  and  Stage  Station,  and  the 
Durbin-Jackson  ranch  site.  Among  the  most  interesting  stops 
was  that  at  the  spot  near  Castle  Rock,  where  the  deeply  cut  wagon 
ruts  in  the  sandstone  are  still  visible  near  the  Three  Crossings  of 
the  Sweetwater. 


Washakie  and  Zke  Skoshoui 

A  Selection  of  Documents  from  the  Records  of  the  Utah 
Superintendency  of  Indian  Affairs 

Edited  by 

Dale  L.  Morgan 

PART  IX— 1864-1866 

CIX 

James  Duane  Doty,  late  acting  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to 

William  P.  Dole,  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated 

Great  Salt  Lake  City,  September  11,  1864.-'" 

Sir. 

Mr  Irish,  the  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs  in  Utah  Territory, 
arrived  in  this  City  on  the  26th  of  August.  He  desired  me  to, 
continue  to  perform  the  duties  of  Superintendent — there  being 
then  several  parties  of  Shoshonees  and  Utes  here — until  the  31st., 
which  I  did;  and  on  that  day  delivered  to  him  all  the  public 
property  in  my  hands  belonging  to  the  Indian  Department,  for 
which  his  receipts  were  taken. 

My  account  and  Return,  up  to  that  date,  will  be  forwarded  in 
a  few  days.  .  . 

CX 

O.  H.  Irish,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  William  P.  Dole, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt  Lake 

City,  Sept.  26,  1864.-^ 

Sir:  In  compliance  with  the  regulations  of  the  Indian  depart- 
ment, I  have  the  honor  to  make  the  following  report  of  the  con- 
dition of  Indian  affairs  within  this  superintendency,  so  far  as  I 
am  able  to  obtain  information  in  the  short  time  I  have  been  here, 
less  than  one  month. 

I  took  possession  of  what  property  there  was  on  the  first  of 
September,  and  relieved  Governor  Doty  from  the  further  per- 
formance of  duty  as  acting  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs.  .  .  . 
[A  considerable  discussion  of  Ute  affairs  follows.] 

...  I  have  to-day  received  a  telegram  from  the  operator  at 


219.  D/551-1864. 

220.  38th  Congress,  2nd  Session,  House  Executive  Document  I   (Serial 
1220),  pp.  313-315. 


196  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Shell  creek,  two  hundred  miles  southwest,  that  the  Indians  are 
gathering  in,  demanding  their  annuity  goods,  and  out  of  humor  by 
reason  of  the  delay.  Another  despatch  from  Fort  Bridger  informs 
me  that  Shoshonees  are  in  large  numbers  at  Bear  lake,  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  miles  north,  impatient  because  they  are  not  paid, 
so  that  they  can  go  to  their  winter  hunting  grounds  on  Wind  river. 
I  also  subjoin  a  copy  of  a  letter  handed  me  the  16th  instant, 
from  his  excellency  Governor  Doty  and  Brigadier  General  Conner, 
late  commissioner  for  negotiating  the  treaties  with  those  Indians, 
urging  me  to  make  some  provision  to  pay  them  now,  and  not  wait 
the  arrival  of  the  annuity  goods: 

Great  Salt  Lake  City, 
Utah  Territory,  September  15,  1864. 

Sir:  The  undersigned  trust  that  their  long  connexion  with  the 
Indian  service  of  this  Territory  will  excuse  tham  in  addressing 
you,  who  have  but  recently  assumed  the  duties  of  your  office  here, 
on  matters  which  we  consider  of  great  importance  connected  with 
your  department. 

You  are  aware  that  treaties  were  made  in  the  year  1863  with  the 
Shoshonee  Indians  and  mixed  bands  of  that  nation,  by  which  they 
were  to  receive  a  certain  sum  annually,  in  such  articles  of  property 
and  presents  as  the  President  of  the  United  States  should  think 
best  for  them. 

Our  Indian  relations,  so  far  as  maintaining  peace  along  and  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  overland  route,  and  generally  throughout  this 
rich  mining  country,  is  concerned,  have  been  and  still  are  so 
delicate,  and  the  interests  involved  in  the  preservation  of  peace 
so  important,  that,  in  our  opinion,  the  greatest  care  should  be 
taken  on  the  part  of  the  government  in  strictly  complying  with 
its  obligations  with  these  Indians. 

The  time  has  already  passed  when  they  had  a  right  to  expect 
their  annuity  for  this  year.  They  will  soon  leave  for  their  winter 
hunting  grounds,  some  four  or  five  hundred  miles  from  this  place. 

Should  they  not  receive  their  annuity  before  their  departure, 
dissatisfaction  and  disturbance  may  be  the  result. 

It  is  understood  that  the  presents  that  the  government  is  for- 
warding to  them  carmot  arrive  here  until  quite  late  in  the  fall, 
and  so  late  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  deliver  them  to  the  Indians 
this  season. 

We  therefore  respectfully  but  urgently  recommend  that  you 
make  some  other  provision  to  fulfil  the  obligations  assumed  by 
us  on  behalf  of  the  government  in  these  treaties  at  an  early  day, 
and  before  they  depart  for  their  hunting-grounds. 

The  pecuhar  circumstances  with  which  we  are  surrounded  in 
this  country,  the  fact  that  we  are  cut  off  from  communication 
with  the  department  at  Washington,  and  the  generally  disturbed 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI  197 

condition  of  the  Indians  throughout  the  whole  country,  will,  in 
our  opinion,  justify  you  in  assuming  the  responsibihty. 

Very  respectfully,  &c., 

James  Duane  Doty, 
Governor  and  late  Commissioner. 
P.  Edward  Conner, 
Brigd.  Gen.  U.  S.  V.,  Commanding  District  Utah. 

Hon.  O.  H.  Irish, 

Superintendent  Indian  Affairs. 

I  have  accordingly  sent  a  messenger  after  Washakee,  with  a 
present  of  some  tobacco,  and  a  letter  inviting  him,  with  four  other 
chiefs,  to  comt  in  and  consult  with  me  as  to  what  had  better  be 
done.  I  cannot  determine  until  I  have  seen  these  Indians,  and 
have  so  informed  Governor  Doty  and  General  Conner. 

The  difficulties  of  our  situation  cannot  be  appreciated  by  any 
one  not  here  to  share  them.  I  have  not  received  a  letter  from 
any  eastern  correspondent  dated  since  the  6th  of  last  July,  and  I 
cannot,  owing  to  the  condition  of  the  mails,  expect  therefore  to 
be  advised  by  you  as  to  what  to  do  in  the  emergency. 

The  goods  were,  I  am  informed,  shipped  from  Nebraska  City 
about  the  18th  of  August,  and  I  have  not  heard  of  them  since. 
They  cannot  reach  their  destination  before  the  18th  of  November, 
and  that  is  doubtful,  as  snow  fell  in  the  mountains  on  the  22d 
instant,  while  I  was  traveUing  between  here  and  the  Spanish  Fork 
farm.  While  I  am  anxious  to  keep  the  peace  among  the  Indians 
in  the  mountains,  I  am  still  determined  not  to  overreach  appro- 
priations and  embarrass  the  department  by  making  it  necessary 
to  beg  from  Congress  money  to  make  up  deficiencies. 

I  have  written  you  from  time  to  time,  since  my  arrival  in  tjiis 
Territory,  as  to  my  movements,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  I  have  not 
had  the  opportunity  as  yet  to  inform  myself  fully  as  to  the  con- 
dition of  Indian  affairs  within  this  section  of  the  country,  as  is 
necessary  to  making  a  full  report. 

After  my  council  with  Washakee,  I  will  send  such  further  report 
as  circumstances  may  require.  I  will  endeavor  to  make  up  for 
the  deficiency  in  this  in  my  subsequent  communications.  .  .  . 

CXI 

O.  H.  Irish,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  William  P.  Dole, 
Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt  Lake 
City,  Oct.  1,  1864.221 
Sir 

I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  I  have  this  day  appointed 


22L  1/696-1864. 


198  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Dimick  Huntington  U.  S.  Indian  Interpreter  for  this  office  in 
place  of  Joseph  A.  Gebow,  removed  for  seUing  Indians  Liquor,  of 
which  offence  he  has  recently  been  convicted.  I  have  also  to 
inform  the  Department  that  I  have  employed  temporally,  until 
Agent  [L.  P.]  Kinney  takes  possession,  George  [Washington] 
Bean  as  U.  S.  Indian  Interpreter  at  the  Spanish  fork  Agency  to 
commence  his  services  the  1^'  of  October,  in  place  of  Mr.  Ells- 
worth who  cannot  speak  the  Utah  Language  fluently  enough  for 
the  purpose  for  which  an  Interpreter  is  required  at  that  Agency.  .  . 


CXII 

Luther  Mann,  Jr.,  Indian  Agent,  to  O.  H.  Irish,  Supt.  of 
Indian  Affairs,  dated  Fort  Bridger  Agency,  Oct.  5,  1864.—^ 

Sir:  In  compliance  with  the  regulations  of  the  Indian  depart- 
ment, I  have  the  honor  to  submit  the  following  report  relative  to 
the  affairs  of  this  agency  for  the  past  year.  I  take  pleasure  in 
bearing  testimony  to  the  uniform  good  conduct  of  the  eastern 
bands  of  the  Shoshonee  Indians  towards  the  white  citizens  living 
in,  as  well  as  all  emigrants  travelling  through,  this  country  during 
the  past  year.  All  with  whom  I  have  conversed  have  expressed  a 
very  strong  desire  to  fulfil  their  treaty  obligations,  and  report  to 
me  any  depredations  committed  by  any  of  the  tribe  with  great 
vigilance.  About  the  first  of  June  a  party  of  Loo-coo-rekah  or 
Sheep-Eater  Indians  stole  and  brought  into  camp  nineteen  head 
of  horses  belonging  to  a  party  of  miners  at  Beaver  Head,  Montana 
Territory.  Washakee,  the  chief,  informed  them  that  a  treaty  had 
been  made  with  the  whites.  They  surrendered  the  horses  to  him, 
and  he  sent  them  to  Fort  Bridger  and  turned  them  over  to  the 
military  authority  of  the  post.  A  large  number  of  the  tribe  visited 
this  agency  and  were  very  anxious  to  receive  their  presents  before 
leaving  for  their  hunting-grounds,  (the  valley  of  Wind  river.) 
I  was  unable,  however,  to  give  them  any  information  at  what  time 
they  would  arrive.  They  were  induced  to  leave  the  agency  without 
them,  under  the  promise  that,  should  the  goods  arrive,  I  would 
retain  them  and  distribute  them  in  the  spring,  which  appeared  to 
satisfy  them.  In  order  that  such  an  occurrence  may  not  again 
arise,  I  would  recommend  that  in  the  future  all  supplies  designed 
for  this  agency  should  be  forwarded  as  early  as  practicable,  that 
they  might  reach  their  destination  by  the  first  of  August  each 
year.  It  would  thus  give  the  agent  time  to  collect  the  Indians, 
who  from  necessity  are  scattered  over  a  very  large  extent  of 
country,  distribute  their  presents,  and  send  them  to  their  hunting- 


222.  38th  Congress,  2nd  Session,  House  Executive  Document  1   (Serial 
1220),  pp.  316-317. 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI 


199 


Map  prepared  by  Doty  which  accompanied  Treaties  to  Senate.223 
Courtesy  National  Archives 

grounds  early,  thereby  enabling  them  to  collect  their  food  for  the 
winter.  I  have  been  unable,  for  the  want  of  proper  faciUties,  to 
take  an  enumeration  of  the  Indians  under  my  charge  during  the 
present  year;  from  all  the  information  that  I  have  been  able  to 
obtain,  however,  I  believe  there  are  about  fifteen  hundred  souls. 

The  hunting-grounds   of  the   Shoshonee   Indians   being   in   a 
section  of  country  where  the  whites,  during  the  last  year,  have 


223.  Map  transmitted  by  James  Duane  Doty  to  William  P.  Dole,  Com- 
missioner of  Indian  Affairs,  Dated  Great  Salt  Lake  City,  Nov.  10,  1863. 
This  map  was  referred  to  in  Document  C,  page  95,  Vol.  29  No.  1,  April 
1957  Annals  of  Wyoming.  The  map  was  not  received  in  time  from  the 
National  Archives  to  be  included  earlier. 


200  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

been  in  search  of  gold,  their  game  is  becoming  exceedingly  scarce, 
much  of  it  having  been  killed  and  a  great  deal  of  it  driven  from 
the  country;  hence  it  will  be  absolutely  necessary  in  the  future  to 
feed  them  during  the  winter  months.  In  view,  then,  of  the  scat- 
tered condition  of  the  Indians,  and  their  almost  extreme  destitu- 
tion, I  would  recommend  that  some  suitable  measures  be  taken 
to  locate  them  upon  a  reservation  where  they  might  be  protected 
by  the  government  until  they  could  be  taught  to  take  care  of 
themselves.  I  would  respectfully  urge  that  an  appropriation  be 
made  by  Congress  for  that  purpose.  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to 
state  that  the  introduction  of  whiskey  has  been  much  less  during 
the  past  year  than  formerly;  enough,  however,  still  finds  its  way 
into  the  nation  to  cause  considerable  trouble.  The  Indians  find 
no  difficulty  in  procuring  what  they  desire.  It  is  generally  obtained 
in  the  settlements.  My  attention  has  been  called  to  a  case  that 
occurred  lately  in  the  vicinity  of  Cache  valley,  where,  to  obtain 
a  buffalo-robe,  one  of  the  citizens  of  that  locality  sold  to  an  Indian 
whiskey,  which  caused  him  to  become  intoxicated,  causing  some 
trouble,  and  finally  in  the  shooting  of  the  Indian,  mortally  wound- 
ing him.    He  is  at  this  agency  in  a  very  critical  condition. 

I  would  most  respectfully  urge  upon  the  department  the  neces- 
sity of  erecting  an  agency  building.  I  am  at  present  entirely 
dependent  upon  the  military  authority  of  this  post  for  shelter. 
I  have  been  destitute  of  an  office  a  large  portion  of  the  year. 
I  would  also  urge  upon  your  department  the  necessity  of  furnish- 
ing the  agent  with  an  ambulance  and  mules  for  the  use  of  his 
agency.  I  would  ask  for  an  appropriation  of  $2,000  for  the 
above  purposes.  .  .  . 

CXIII 

O.  H.  Irish,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  William  P.  Dole, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affars,  dated  Great  Salt  Lake 

City,  Oct.  13,  1864.--' 

Sir 

I  would  respectfully  call  your  attention  to  that  portion  of  my 
Annual  Report  made  under  date  of  the  26th  of  Sept.  last,  which 
refers  to  the  matter  of  paying  the  ShoShonies  their  Annuity  Goods; 
You  will  observe  therein  that  I  had  sent  for  Washakee  the  prin- 
cipal Chief  to  see  what  arrangements  could  be  made  to  enable 
them  to  reach  their  hunting  grounds. 

I  have  now  the  honor  to  report  that  Washakee  finaly  came  in 
after  a  good  deal  of  difficulty  to  Fort  Bridger,  and  then  in  company 


224.  1/707-1864. 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI  201 

with  one  other  Indian  and  Agent  Mann  he  took  the  stage  and 
came  into  the  city.-^^ 

He  refuses  absolutely  to  start  on  the  hunt  now  at  all,  says  he 
cannot  go  over  the  Mountains  with  his  Women  and  Children,  it 
is  too  cold;  That  they  are  affraid  of  the  Souixs,  and  that  they  will 
leave  their  families  in  the  vicinity  of  Ft  Bridger  for  safety,  and 
will  hunt  in  that  neighborhood  and  do  the  best  they  can,  but  that 
they  depended  upon  their  Great  Father  helping  them  to  live  now 
that  the  White  Men  have  driven  off  their  game  and  that  he  must 
give  them  some  provisions  for  the  Winter  or  they  will  starve. 

He  further  says  that  they  do  not  need  all  of  the  presents  in 
Blankets,  Calicoes,  Shirts,  &C.  That  they  want  provisions  first 
and  Clothing  next;  He  insists  upon  this.  Agent  Mann  [Acting] 
Governor  [Amos]  Reed  and  all  others  whom  I  have  had  the 
opportunity  of  consulting,  and  who  are  familiar  with  the  matter 
say  that  Washakie  is  right;  That  they  must  have  help  in  Subsist- 
ance,  that  there  is  not  game  enough  to  sustain  them  in  the  country. 

I  have  urged  as  urnestly  as  possible,  that  they  Should  go  to 
their  hunting  grounds,  but  it  is  of  no  avail,  and  useless  to  say 
more;  I  told  them  that  the  Great  Father  had  sent  them  goods  of 
such  things  as  he  thought  best  for  them,  and  that  when  they 
arrived,  I  would  see  that  they  received  them;  He  again  said  that 
they  did  not  want  them  all,  wanted  me  to  keep  back  part  of  the 
goods,  and  give  them  something  to  eat,  that  they  did  not  want  to 
hear  Blankets  again  but  wanted  meat — This  was  his  answer  to 
all  my  propositions,  and  I  promised  to  lay  the  matter  before  you, 
and  ask  you  for  your  instructions  by  Telegraph. 

He  went  away  apparently  greatly  dissatisfied  at  not  having 
some  understanding  now. 

I  am  entirely  satisfied  that  we  will  be  under  the  necessity  of 
furnishing  those  Indians  provisions;  and  that  the  cost  of  doing  so 
should  come  out  of  their  Annuity,  for  if  taken  out  of  the  funds  for 
"Incidental  Expenses  of  the  Indian  Service  in  Utah"  it  would  be 
drawing  directly  from  the  resources  upon  which  we  must  depend 
for  aiding  those  Indians  who  receive  no  stated  Annuities  from 
Government,  and  who  have  claims  as  just  and  urgent  as  the 
Shoshonies. 


225.  Mann  to  Irish,  Dec.  3,  1864,  Estimate  of  funds  .  .  .  for  the  quarter 
ending  December  31,  1864,  an  enclosure  in  Irish  to  Dole,  Dec.  23,  1864 
(1/765-1864),  has  among  the  items: 

Expence  in  Sending  Messenger  to  Washakee  22     50 

Fare  of  Washakee  to  Salt  Lake  &  Back  ~  60     00 

Fare  of  One  other  Indian  "     "     "     "  60     00 

Fare  of  Myself  to  Sah  Lake  &  Back  60     00 

Expense  incurred  o  nround  Trip  37     00 

The  exact  date  does  not  appear. 


202  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

The  [blank]  ShoShonies  are  entitled  to  $10,000  in  pres- 
ents, this  is  double  the  amount  in  proportion  to  their  numbers, 
which  we  will  under  present  approp[r]iations  be  able  to  give  the 
other  Indians  of  this  Superintendency. 

I  would  therefore  respectfully  request  that  $4,000,  from  the 
appropriations  for  the  "Incidental  Expenses  of  the  Indian  Service 
in  Utah"  be  set  aside  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  them  provisions, 
and  that  this  amount  of  goods  be  taken  out  of  those  sent  to  them 
and  distributed  among  the  Indians  who  would  otherwise  have  to  be 
provided  with  goods  from  the  appropriation  out  of  which  the 
$4,000.  is  taken. 

This  would  be  fulfilling  the  Treaty  Stipulations  by  giving  them 
the  $10,000  in  presents  as  follows.  Viz.  $6,000.  in  goods  $4,000. 
in  provisions;  And  the  withdrawal  of  this  sum  from  the  resources 
of  the  Department  for  aiding  the  Southern  Indians  would  be  made 
good  by  permitting  me  to  retain  that  amount  out  of  the  goods 
originally  intended  for  the  ShoShonies,  and  distributing  them  to 
the  other  Indians  not  provided  for  by  Treaties  as  their  necessities 
required  it. 

This  plan  if  admissable  will  enable  us  to  comply  with  the 
demands  of  these  Indians,  quiet  all  apprehensions  of  difficulties 
from  that  source,  and  at  the  same  time  avoid  any  danger  of 
increased  liabilities.  Agent  Mann  says  that  he  can  help  them 
through  the  Winter  with  that  Sum. 

I  promised  the  Indians  that  I  would  ask  you  to  Telegraph  me 
whether  I  might  do  this  or  not.  It  is  highly  important  that  I 
should  receive  an  answer  as  soon  as  possible;  So  earnest  were 
they  in  the  matter  that  they  refused  all  presents  for  the  people 
except  provisions.  Refused  even  some  small  presents  I  offered 
them  individually;  I  desire  however  to  say  in  their  favor  that  they 
gave  not  the  sligh[t]est  intimation  of  an  unfriendly  spirit;  They 
evidently  feel  that  the  neccesities  of  their  people  are  such  that 
they  should  make  the  request,  and  persist  in  it  even  if  they  seemed 
obstinate;  They  tried  to  make  this  apparent  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  give  me  no  offence. 

I  have  written  the  foregoing  in  the  absence  of  any  official  infor- 
mation, as  to  the  quantity  of  goods  purchased,  but  upon  what 
Hon  J  F.  Kinney,  told  me  at  Nebraska  City,  you  intended  doing, 
Viz.  Expending  in  the  purchase  of  goods,  all  of  the  appropriations 
of  $16,000  made  for  fulfilling  the  obligations  of  the  Treaties  nego- 
tiated by  Governor  Doty,  Ten  Thousand  going  to  the  ShoShonies, 
$6000  to  other  Indians. 

I  presume  the  same  question  will  occure  as  to  those  to  whom 
the  $6,000.  is  to  be  paid;  they  will  want  provisions  in  part,  and 


WASHAKIE  AND  -THE  SHOSHONI  203 

the  same  necessity  will  exist  in  their  case,  as  there  does  in  this 
they  have  not  talked  with  me  directly  upon  this  subject;  but  enough 
has  been  said  to  satisfy  me  that  they  will  make  the  same  demands; 
I  have  simply  informed  them  that  when  the  wagons  come,  I  would 
go  and  see  them,  and  give  them  their  goods;  That  they  should  be 
patient,  and  make  an  honest  living  until  then. 

If  I  am  misinformed,  and  you  are  not  sending  the  whole  amount 
in  goods,  and  there  are  unexpended  balances  of  the  appropriations 
made  for  carrying  out  these  Treaties,  I  would  urgently  request 
that  said  balances  be  at  once  placed  at  my  disposal  for  Winter  is 
upon  us,  and  arrangements  must  be  made  now,  and  I  cannot  buy 
on  credit  in  this  market. 

It  is  during  the  approaching  winter  months  we  will  need  the 
most  of  the  funds  for  the  remainder  of  the  fiscal  year  for  all  pur- 
poses; save  the  settlements  of  the  Indians  in  the  Uinta  Valley,  and 
the  regular  and  contingent  expenses  of  the  Service;  from  the  15th 
of  October  to  the  P*  of  June  is  the  time  when  provisions,  and 
clothing  are  more  necessary  than  at  any  other  season  of  the  year; 
with  the  appropriations  made  by  Congress,  if  I  can  have  them  to 
expend  from  time  to  time,  as  circumstances  may  require,  I  am 
confident  peace  will  be  maintained  within  this  Super intendency, 
and  the  Indians  will  feel  the  practical  benefits  of  the  humain  policy 
of  the  Indian  Department. 

I  am  greatly  embarrassed  from  the  want  of  Mail  facilities,  I  have 
received  no  letter  from  the  Indian  office  since  the  6th  of  July; 
No  information  from  Indian  Goods.  We  are  informed  that  the 
route  is  open,  but  I  don't  see  it  at  present  writing;  we  get  no 
Mails,  and  I  presume  some  of  these  will  never  come  to  hand. 
The  press  of  business  is  such  that  we  will  not  be  able  to  depend 
upon  them  for  some  time;  Hence  I  would  the  more  urgently  request 
(that  I  may  act  understandingly  in  all  of  these  matters)  informa- 
tion by  Telegraph  as  follows.  Viz.  How  much  funds  can  be 
placed  to  my  credit  with  the  Assistant  Treasurer  in  New  York 
under  the  following  appropiations,  Viz. 

P*  For  paying  Annuities  under  the  Treaties  negotiated  by  Gov- 
ernor Doty. 

2nd  por  the  "Incidental  Expenses  of  the  Indian  Service  in  Utah." 
3^'^  The  appropriation  for  deficiency  under  which  it  was  under- 
stood arrangements  were  to  be  made  for  transportation  of  1000 
Sacks  of  Flour.  Having  no  Mails  I  am  not  informed  whether 
arrangements  were  made  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing,  and 
transporting  it  or  not,  if  it  has  not  been  done  I  can  use  the  money 
to  advantage  here;  will  buy  some  flour,  but  principally  wheat  and 
have  the  Indians  boil  it,  if  the  suggestion  meets  your  approval. 

By  responding  by  Telegraph  to  these  questions,   refering  to 


204  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

them  as  they  are  numbered,  I  can  with  the  copy  of  this  letter  before 
me  understand  your  wishes.--" 

In  this  connection  I  beg  leave  to  say  that  we  are  called  upon 
to  minister  in  this  Superintendency  to  the  wants  of  Indians  residing 
not  only  within  its  limits  but  numerous  bands  roaming  on  the 
frontiers  in  the  adjoining  Territories  not  understanding  jurisdiction; 
They  seem  to  make  this  a  central  point,  not  being  governed  at  all 
by  the  boundary  lines  of  the  Territories  as  designated  by  the  laws 
of  Congress  but  by  the  natural  divisions  of  the  country  marked  out 
by  the  Rivers,  and  Mountains  which  they  have  for  Generations 
regarded  as  the  boundaries  of  the  lands  belonging  to  their  respec- 
tive Tribes,  and  through  this  throws  them  principally  into  other 
Territories,  yet  because  a  corner  of  the  land  they  claim  to  occupy 
runs  into  my  jurisdiction  they  consider  themselves  under  my  care, 
and  do  not  in  any  instance  as  I  can  learn  seem  to  know  that  they 
should  apply  to  other  Indian  Authorities  over  the  Mountains, 
East  or  West.  .  .  . 

CXIV 

O.  H.  Irish,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  William  P.  Dole, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt  Lake 

City,  Oct.  18,  1864.--' 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  herewith  enclose  the  annual  report  of 
Agent  Luther  Mann,  jr.,  received  at  this  office  on  the  15th 
instant.--*^ 

I  would  respectfully  recommend  to  the  favorable  consideration 
of  the  department  that  portion  of  his  report  referring  to  the  locat- 
ing of  the  Shoshonees  on  a  reservation.  The  Indians,  in  all  this 
mountain  country,  cannot  live  any  longer  by  hunting;  the  game 
has  disappeared,  the  old  hunting-grounds  are  occupied  by  our 
people  to  their  exclusion.  We  must  instruct  them,  therefore,  in 
some  other  way  of  making  a  living  than  the  chase,  or  else  support 
them  ourselves  in  idleness,  or  leave  them  to  prey  upon  the  emigra- 
tion pouring  into  the  country.  For  starving  Indians  will  steal, 
pillage,  murder,  and  plunge  the  frontier,  from  time  to  time,  into 
all  the  horrors  of  savage  warfare.     Thus  the  country  demands 


226.  The  Commissioner  wired  Irish  on  November  10  and  wrote  him 
on  Nov.  14  to  say  that  $4,000  had  been  placed  to  his  credit  in  New  York, 
and  he  could  apply  that  amount  in  provisions  for  the  Shoshoni  in  place 
of  the  same  amount  in  goods.  In  effect,  he  would  buy  $4,000  in  pro- 
visions from  the  fund  for  Incidental  Expenses  of  his  Superintendency,  and 
trade  it  for  the  same  amount  of  goods  bought  with  Shoshoni  annuity  funds, 
distributing  such  goods  to  his  non-Shoshoni  Indians.  Office  of  Indian 
Affairs,  Record  Copies  of  Letters  Sent,  Vol.  75,  pp.  411,  427-428. 

227.  38th  Congress,  2nd  Session,  House  Executive  Document  1  (Serial 
1220),  p.  315. 

228.  See  Document  CXII. 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI  205 

from  government  defence,  retribution,  and  often  the  extermination 
of  the  starving  savages,  at  a  cost  of  milhons  of  dollars  to  the 
national  treasury,  when  thousands  would  have  sufficed  if  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  Indian  department  to  be  used  in  settling  them 
in  homes  and  instructing  them  in  the  peaceful  arts  of  industry. 

The  farmer,  with  the  plough,  hoe,  and  axe,  will,  if  used  at  the 
first,  be  more  efficient  in  keeping  peace  on  our  frontier  than  the 
soldier  with  cannon,  muskets,  and  bayonets.  With  the  tribes  in 
these  mountains,  the  first  means  should  be  directed  to  locating 
them  on  reservations,  and  I  feel  that  we  cannot  too  strongly 
recommend  the  policy  suggested  by  Agent  Mann  as  to  the  Sho- 
shonees,  but  that  it  should  be  carried  out  as  to  all  the  tribes 
in  these  mining  Territories.  Herein  lies  economy,  peace  and 
safety.  ... 

cxv 

Brig.  Gen.  P.  Edward  Connor  to  O.  H.  Irish,  Supt.  of  Indian 

Affairs,  dated  Head  Quarters   District   of   Utah,   Camp 

Douglass,  Utah  Territory,  near  Great  Salt  Lake  City 

Nov.  4,  1864.—' 

Sir 

I  have  to  inform  you  that  I  have  this  day  received  a  letter  from 
Ben  Holladay  Esq.  Proprietor  of  the  Northern  [Overland]  Stage 
Line,  on  whose  complaint  the  Indian  Chief  "Pocatello"  was 
arrested  by  me.  Mr.  Holladay  informs  me  that  on  further  exam- 
ination he  finds  that  the  alleged  offences  of  "Pocatello"  are  not 
of  that  serious  character  he  at  first  apprehended  and  understood 
them  to  be,  and  requests  that  no  further  action  be  taken  by  me. 

Under  those  circumstances,  I  deem  it  proper  to  transfer  the 
prisoner  "Pocatello"  to  you,  for  such  action  in  the  premises,  under 
the  treaty  and  the  laws,  as  you  may  regard  necessary  to  maintain 
friendly  relations  with  the  Indian  tribes  and  for  the  prompt  punish- 
ment of  offenders.  .  .  . 
[1/735-1864  End.] 

CXVI 

O.  H.  Irish,  Supt,  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  Willlvm  P.  Dole, 
Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt  Lake 

City,  Nov.  9,  1864.^30 
Sir 

Refering  to  my  communication  of  the  29^*^  ulto,  I  have  the 
honor  to  report  that  Genl.  Connor  has  sent  the  Indian  Chief, 


229.  1/735-1864  End.     Marked  "Copy." 

230.  1/735-1864. 


206  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

"Pocateilo"  to  the  office,  with  a  letter  explaining  his  reasons  for 
so  doing,  a  copy  of  which  I  herewith  enclose. 

The  Northern  Bands  of  the  Shoshonees  upon  learning  of  Genl 
Connors  intention  of  hanging  Pocatello  had  gone  to  the  Mountains 
with  an  intention  of  preparing  for  war  as  soon  as  he  was  turned 
over  to  me  1  sent  him  to  Box  Elder  [Brigham  City]  from  which 
point  he  will  start  in  search  of  his  people  and  will  bring  them  to 
Box  Elder  to  meet  me  in  Council  next  week. 

If  the  Military  authorities  will  allow  me  to  manage  these  Indians 
without  any  further  interference,  I  am  satisfied  that  by  a  judicious 
use  of  the  appropriations  made  I  can  maintain  peace.  .  .  . 

CXVII 

Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs, 
Nov.  15,  1864.     Extract-^^ 

UTAH  SUPERINTENDENCY. 

At  the  date  of  my  last  annual  report  advices  of  the  negotiation 
of  treaties  of  peace  and  friendship  with  several  of  the  tribes  of 
Indians  of  Utah,  as  well  as  of  Idaho,  whose  range  lies  along  the 
great  overland  route,  had  been  received,  and  the  annual  report  of 
Governor  Doty,  in  relation  to  the  affairs  of  his  superintendency, 
and  particularly  in  reference  to  these  treaties,  was  received  in  time 
to  be  published  in  the  Appendix.  In  addition  to  the  treaties, 
verbal  or  written,  referred  to  in  my  last  report,  as  having  been 
already  made,  and  from  which  great  good  was  expected  to  result 
in  securing  a  peaceable  transit  of  emgirants  throughout  the  great 
routes  of  travel,  two  other  treaties  were  forwarded  by  Governor 
Doty,  under  date  of  October  21,  1863,  having  been  effected  by 
him,  in  conjunction  with  General  Conner,  commanding  the  United 
States  forces  in  Utah  Territory,  to  whose  energy  and  good  judg- 
ment, combined  with  the  bravery  of  his  troops  in  their  previous 
operations  against  the  Indians,  great  credit  is  due,  as  having 
impressed  the  latter  with  a  wholesome  idea  of  the  power  of  the 
white  man,  and  disposed  them  to  seek  for  peace.  The  two  treaties 
referred  to  were  made  -  the  one  October  12,  1863,  at  Tuilla 
valley,  with  the  Shoshonee  bands  of  the  Goship  tribe,  and  the 
other  October  14,  at  Soda  Springs,  Idaho  Territory,  with  the  mixed 
bands  of  Shoshonees  and  Bannacks,  of  Snake  River  valley.  After 
negotiating  these  two  treaties.  Governor  Doty  and  General  Conner 
had  the  pleasure  of  announcing  that  there  remained  no  hostile 
tribe  along  the  routes  of  travel  to  Nevada  and  Cahfornia.  In  a 
later  letter  from  Governor  Doty,  much  valuable  information  is 
given  in  relation  to  the  various  bands  and  tribes  of  Indians  whom 


231.  38th  Congress,  2nd  Session,  House  Executive  Document  1   (Serial 
1220),  pp.  160-161. 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI  207 

he  had  visited,  and  with  whom  he  had  treated,  and  an  approximate 
estimate  of  their  numbers  is  given. 

The  various  treaties  thus  made  were  transmitted  to  the  Senate 
in  due  course.  They  were  all  returned  from  the  Senate,  confirmed, 
but  with  amendments,  which  amendments  were  forwarded  to 
Governor  Doty  with  instructions  to  obtain  the  assent  of  the  Indians 
to  them.  There  is  not  in  our  files  any  acknowledgment  by  him  of 
their  receipt,  neither  does  Superintendent  Irish,  who  succeeded 
Governor  Doty,  allude  to  them  in  his  report.  In  the  letter  of 
instructions  sent  with  the  amendments  to  the  treaties,  it  was 
suggested  that,  inasmuch  as  there  existed  no  appropriation  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  getting  the  Indians  together  to  obtain  their 
consent  thereto,  the  object  might  be  attained  at  the  time  of  the 
payment  of  their  annuities. 

The  subject  of  abandoning  the  several  small  reservations  in 
Utah,  and  concentrating  the  Indians  upon  one  large  reservation, 
known  as  the  Uintah  valley,  has  been  frequently  urged  upon  the 
attention  of  this  office,  but  for  want  of  proper  information  as  to 
the  locality  and  its  resources,  and  on  account  of  the  hostility  of 
and  pending  military  operations  against,  several  of  the  tribes, 
nothing  has  yet  been  accomplished  in  that  direction.  In  January, 
1 864,  a  memorial  was  received  from  the  legislature  of  Utah,  asking 
that  the  smaller  reservations  might  be  surveyed  and  opened  to  the 
whites  for  settlement,  and  by  the  act  of  Congress  approved  May  5, 
1864,  provision  was  made  for  their  survey,  and  for  the  permanent 
reservation  of  Uintah  valley  as  a  home  for  the  Indians  of  Utah. 
An  appropriation  of  $30,000  was  also  made  for  the  purpose  of 
preparing  homes  on  the  reserve  for  those  Indians  who  should  be 
removed  to  it,  and  for  aiding  them  in  becoming  self-supporting,  by 
means  of  agriculture.  The  Uintah  valley  had  been  by  order  of*' 
the  President,  as  recommended  by  this  office,  set  apart  for  the 
exclusive  occupation  of  the  Indians  as  long  ago  as  October,  1861, 
but  in  the  imperfect  geographical  knowledge  of  the  country,  its 
exact  limits  could  not  be  defined.  The  tract  set  apart  by  following 
what  are  supposed  to  be  dividing  ridges,  so  as  to  include  the  whole 
region  traversed  and  drained  by  the  Uintah  river  and  its  upper 
branches  down  to  its  junction  with  the  Green  river,  is  understood 
to  be  ample  in  extent,  containing  two  million  acres,  abounding 
in  valleys  of  great  fertiUty,  with  all  the  necessary  water-power  for 
mills,  and  having  an  abundance  of  timber;  indeed,  as  being 
admirably  adapted  for  the  purposes  of  a  large  Indian  reservation. 
Many  of  the  Indians  exhibit  a  desire  to  be  placed  upon  it,  and 
undertake  in  earnest  the  pursuit  of  agriculture.  A  difficulty  pre- 
sents itself  in  the  want  of  accurately  surveyed  lines,  so  that,  by  the 
exclusion  of  whites  from  them,  the  Indians  may  be  left  in  undis- 
turbed possession,  and  I  recommend  that  application  be  made  to 
Congress  for  an  appropriation  for  the  purpose  of  making  this 
survey;  but  meantime  the  superintendent  has  been  directed  to 


208  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

warn  all  white  settlers  now  on  the  tract  to  leave  it,  (describing 
it  as  fully  as  possible,)  and  to  notify  all  other  white  persons,  who 
may  be  found  upon  the  reservation  when  its  limits  shall  be  def- 
initely established,  that  they  will  be  required  to  remove.  The 
superintendent  has  further  been  instructed  to  prepare  and  submit, 
as  soon  as  possible,  a  plan  for  removing  the  Indians  from  the  old 
reservations  to  the  Uintah  valley.  It  is  confidently  expected  that 
the  most  gratifying  results  will  follow  the  completion  of  the  plans 
thus  set  on  foot  for  the  concentration  of  the  Indians  in  their  new 
homes. 

Superintendent  Irish,  who  succeeded  Governor  Doty  in  charge 
of  Indian  affairs  in  this  Territory,  did  not  arrive  at  Great  Salt 
Lake  City  until  August  25,  having  waited  some  time  at  Nebraska 
city,  in  the  expectation  of  taking  with  him  the  annuity  goods,  upon 
the  prompt  distribution  of  which  much  seemed  to  depend  in 
regard  to  preserving  peace  with  the  Indians.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that,  in  consequence  of  apprehended  danger  of  Indian  hostilities 
upon  the  plains,  the  goods  were  not  shipped  from  Nebraska  city 
until  late  in  August,  and  were  therefore  not  expected  to  arrive 
at  their  destination  in  less  than  three  months,  if  indeed  they  are 
not  delayed  on  the  way  until  spring.  Some  apprehension  is  there- 
fore felt  lest  the  Indians,  who  have  kept  their  faith  and  observed 
the  terms  of  the  treaties  made  with  them,  should  become  dissatis- 
fied and  hostile,  some  symptoms  of  such  feeling  having  exhibited 
themselves  already;  and  the  superintendent  was  urged  by  Governor 
Doty  and  General  Conner  to  make,  if  possible,  some  temporary 
arrangements  in  advance  of  the  arrival  of  the  goods,  so  as  to 
prevent  an  outbreak.  At  the  last  dates  received  Mr.  Irish  had  sent 
presents  to  the  principal  chief,  and  invited  him,  with  four  others, 
to  come  and  see  him,  when,  it  was  hoped,  some  satisfactory 
arrangement  would  be  effected.  .  .  . 

'  CXVIII 

James  Duane  Doty,  Commissioner,   to  William  P.  Dole, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt  Lake 

City,  Nov.  25,  1864.-^2 

Sir: — On  the  18th  of  this  month  the  Northwestern  Bands  of 
Shoshones  were  met  by  Col.  Irish  and  myself,  by  invitation,  at 
Box  Elder  in  this  Territory;  and  their  Treaty  as  amended  was 
submitted  to  them,  and  their  assent  was  given  to  the  proposed 
Amendments  of  the  Senate,  by  adding  Article  5  to  the  Treaty;  and 
their  Agreement,  duly  executed  according  to  your  Instructions,  is 
herewith  transmitted. 


232.  D/586-1864.     Printed  in:  39th  Congress,  1st  Session,  House  Exec- 
utive Document  1  (Serial  1248),  p.  326. 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI  209 

One  of  the  principal  men  who  signed  the  Treaty,  and  whose 
name  does  not  appear  to  this  agreement,  died  during  the  past  year; 
and  another  was  absent  on  a  hunt,  as  was  reported. 

There  was  however,  between  four  and  five  hundred  of  these 
Bands  present,  who  gave  their  assent  freely  to  the  Senates  Amend- 
ment, and  joyfully  participated  in  the  annuity  provided  by  the 
Treaty.  It  is  beheved  the  only  individuals  of  these  Bands  who 
were  absent  on  this  occasion,  were  those  of  five  lodges — to  one 
of  which  it  is  supposed  the  absent  chief  belonged — on  the  Goose 
Creek  Mountains,  who  refused  last  year  to  unite  with  these  in 
their  Treaty.  With  these  Lodges  it  is  hoped  the  Superintendent 
may  be  instructed  to  open  negotiations  during  the  winter,  or 
spring,  as  they  are  on  the  northern  California  road,  and  near  the 
newly  traveled  road  to  Boise  from  this  City. 

The  Treaty  with  the  Shoshonee-Goship  Bands,  as  ratified  by  the 
Senate,  was  submitted  to  those  Bands  at  Tuilla  Valley  on  the  24th 
instant;  and  their  assent  was  given  to  the  Senate  Amendment  by 
an  Agreement  adding  Article  8  to  the  Treaty,  which  was  duly 
executed  by  the  Chiefs  and  principal  men,  according  to  your 
Instructions,  and  is  herewith  transmitted.  Harrynup,  who  signed 
the  Treaty  had  died  last  winter;  and  Dick  Moni,  one  of  their 
principal  and  best  young  men,  now  signed  in  his  stead  as  a  chief. 

Col.°  Irish  as  the  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs  in  this  Terri- 
tory, joined  by  my  invitation  in  these  Councils  and  negotiations; 
and  the  funds  for  holding  intercourse  with  these  Bands  being  in 
his  hands — none  having  been  received  by  me  for  this  special 
service — he  has  paid  all  of  the  expenses  incurred. 

The  North  Eastern  Bands  of  Shoshonees  who  were  treated 
with  at  Fort  Bridger,  and  the  mixed  Bands  of  Bannacks  and 
Shoshonees  treated  with  at  Soda  Springs,  had  left  for  their  Buffalo 
hunt  near  the  Wind  river  Mountains  in  the  Territory  attached  to 
Nebraska,  before  the  arrival  of  the  Superintendent;  and  it  is  not 
probable  they  can  be  met  until  Spring,  when  the  Senates  amend- 
ments will  be  submitted  to  them;  and  from  what  I  have  learned 
of  their  feelings  have  no  doubt  of  their  acceptance.  They  could 
not  be  negotiated  with  at  an  earlier  day,  for  the  reasons  stated  in 
my  Letter  to  the  Commissioner  of  the  1 3th,  of  June  last.  .  .  . 

CXIX 

[Certificates  of  Issue,  1865]^^^ 
[The  Utah  Field  Papers  for  1866  contain  three  certificates  of 


233.  The  record  does  not  show  whether  there  was  any  extensive 
distribution  of  provisions  to  the  Shoshoni  in  the  winter  of  1864-1865.  Any 
major  distribution  presumably  would  have  been  through  Superintendent 
Irish.  Issues  of  wheat  and  a  beef  ox  by  Mann,  as  attested  herewith,  were 
too  slight  to  have  much  bearing  on  the  problems  which  had  preoccupied 
Irish  in  the  autumn  of  1864. 


210  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

issue  for  the  first  three  quarters  of  1865.  The  first,  signed  by 
Jack  Robertson,  Interpreter,  and  Harry  Rickard,  Fort  Bridger 
Agency,  March  29,  1865,  certifies  that  they  were  present  at  the 
distribution  by  Agent  Luther  Mann  of  certain  articles.  The  issue 
dates  were  Jan.  16,  29,  Feb.  8,  and  March  5,  1865,  and  were  for 
various  dry  goods  except  for  2  bushels  of  wheat  on  Jan.  16,  the 
same  on  Jan.  29,  4  bushels  on  Feb.  8,  and  on  March  5  a  beef  ox 
and  6  bushels  of  wheat.  On  the  verso  of  this  document  appears 
the  certificate:  "We  the  undersigned  Chiefs  Head  Men  and 
Delegates  of  the  Eastern  Bands  of  ShoShonee  Indians  and  duly 
authorized  by  them  to  represent  Said  Bands  do  hereby  Certify 
that  we  have  received  from  Luther  Mann  Jr.  U.  S.  Indian  agent 
the  Within  named  Goods  and  Provisions  being  a  portion  of  the 
amount  due  our  Said  Bands  for  the  Year  A.  D  1864  under  the 
Fifth  article  of  Our  Treaty  made  with  the  United  States  at  Fort 
Bridger  U.  T.  dated  the  Second  day  of  July  A  D.  1863."  Dated 
"]^ort  Bridger  Agency  U.  T.  July  16th  1866,"  and  signed  by  mark 
by  Washakee,  Wanapitz,  Toopsapowet,  Pantoshiga,  Narkawk, 
Taboonshea,  Neeranga,  Tortsaph,  and  Bazil. 

[A  second  such  certificate,  for  the  second  quarter,  1865,  at- 
tested by  Jack  Robertson,  Interpreter,  and  L.  B.  Chapman,  shows 
issues  on  April  10,  26,  May  7,  and  June  20,  exclusively  of  dry 
goods,  certified  by  the  same  chiefs,  July  16,  1866.  A  certificate 
for  the  third  quarter,  signed  by  Robertson  and  P.  [?]  V.  Lauder- 
dale, A.  A.  Surgeon,  U.  S.  A.,  attests  issues  on  Sept.  17,  1865, 
all  of  dry  goods  except  54  bushels  of  wheat  and  94  lbs.  of  tobacco. 
Again  signed  by  the  chiefs,  July  16,  1866.] 

cxx 

O.  H.  Irish,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  William  P.  Dole, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt  Lake 

City,  August  4,  1865.--^^ 

Sir 

Yesterday  (3'*  inst)  I  received  the  following  telegram  from 
Agent  Mann  Jr  at  Fort  Bridger,  Viz  "I  learned  this  morning  that 
a  large  party  of  the  ShoShonees  are  preparing  to  leave  that  Agency 
for  the  purpose  of  fighting  the  hostile  Indians  who  are  Engaged 
in  committing  depredations  on  the  Overland  Mail  Line  and  Tele- 
graph Lines,  Shall  I  permit  them  to  leave  if  I  can  avoid  them? 
Please  answer  at  once  and  oblige  Washa-Kie  and  his  band  here." 

I  answered  immediately  as  follows  "With  the  concurrence  of 
and  by  placing  themselves  under  direction  of  the  Military  Author- 
ities I  am  willing  they  should  fight  the  bad  Indians.  Let  them 
be  good  Soldiers  that  the  Great  Father  may  think  well  of  them." 


234.  1/1254-1865. 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI  211 

I  have  entire  confidence  in  the  fideUty  and  efficiency  of  the 
ShoShonee  Indians  and  beUeve  they  will  do  good  service  at  this 
time.  .  .  . 

CXXI 

O.  H.  Irish,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  D.  N.  Cooley, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt  Lake 

City,  Sept.  9,  1865.    Extract.-^-' 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  my  annual  report  of  the  general 
condition  of  Indian  affairs  within  the  Utah  superintendency  for 
the  past  year. 

The  tribes  included  within  this  superintendency  are  the  eastern 
and  northwestern  bands  of  Shoshonees  and  the  mixed  bands  of 
Bannacks  and  Shoshonees,  the  Goships,  the  Cum-umbahs,  the 
Utahs,  Utes,  Pah  Vants,  Pi  Edes,  and  Pah  Utes. 

THE   SHOSHONEES. 

The  eastern  bands  of  Shoshonees  and  mixed  bands  of  Bannacks 
and  Shoshonees  number  upwards  of  four  thousand  souls.  These 
bands  are  under  the  control  of  Wash-a-kee,  the  finest  appearing 
Indian  I  have  ever  seen.  He  is  justly  regarded  as  a  firm  friend 
of  the  government  and  the  whites,  and  steadily  refuses  to  hold 
communication  with  bad  Indians.  He  offered  his  services  with 
his  warriors  to  fight  against  the  hostile  Indians  on  the  plains,  as 
I  informed  you  by  letter  of  the  4th  ultimo. 

The  treaty  negotiated  by  Governor  Doty,  at  Fort  Bridger,  on 
the  2d  day  of  July,  1863,  was  with  the  eastern  bands  of  the 
Shoshonee  Indians. 

The  treaty  negotiated  at  Soda  Springs  on  the  fourteenth  day  of^. 
October,  of  the  same  year,  was  with  the  mixed  bands  of  the 
Bannacks  and  Shoshonees,  in  which  it  was  agreed  that  the  latter 
bands  should  share  in  the  annuity  provided  for  by  the  Fort  Bridger 
treaty  with  the  eastern  bands.  These  Indians  have  not,  since  the 
making  of  the  treaties  referred  to,  received  their  presents  as 
promptly  as  they  expected  them,  owing  to  the  burning  of  some  of 
the  goods  on  the  plains,  and  the  lateness  of  the  season  when  the 
balance  were  received  for  last  year,  it  being  after  most  of  the 
Indians  had  gone  on  their  winter  hunt.  This  year,  all  but  the 
old  men  and  some  of  the  women  and  children  have  gone  on  the 
hunt  without  their  presents,  for  fear  they  would  suffer  the  same 
disappointment  as  last  year,  the  goods  not  having  come  to  hand 
yet,  and  there  being  no  prospect  of  their  arrival  until  the  snow 
falls  in  the  mountains.  These  bands  range  through  the  north- 
eastern portion  of  Utah  Territory  and  that  portion  of  southern 


235.  39th  Congress,   1st  Session,  House  Executive  Document  1    (Serial 
1248),  pp.  310-216. 


212  .  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Idaho  lying  along  and  south  of  Snake  river.  They  generally 
inhabit  the  Wind  River  country  and  the  headwaters  of  the  North 
Platte  and  Missouri  Rivers.  Their  principal  subsistence  is  the 
buffalo,  which  they  hunt  during  the  fall,  winter  and  spring,  on 
which  they  subsist  during  that  time,  and  return  in  the  summer  to 
Fort  Bridger  and  Great  Salt  Lake  City  to  trade  their  robes,  furs, 
&c.,  for  such  articles  as  they  desire  and  can  obtain  in  the  market. 
The  only  portion  of  their  country  suited  for  agricultural  purposes 
is  Wind  River  valley,  in  which  they  are  desirous  that  government 
should  set  aside  a  reservation  for  them. 

These  Indians  do  not  properly  belong  to  this  superintendency, 
their  country  being  north  and  northeast  of  Utah,  principally  in 
Idaho  Territory  and  Wyoming,--^*"'  (now  attached  to  Dakota.) 
With  their  agency  located  in  Wind  River  valley,  as  they  desire  it 
should  be,  they  would  remain  away  from  the  white  settlements, 
the  mail  and  telegraph  lines.  They  have  repeatedly  asked  that  this 
should  be  done.  The  reports  of  Agent  Mann  of  last  year,  con- 
curred in  by  the  superintendent,  recommended  a  compUance  with 
their  wishes. 

THE    NORTHWESTERN    SHOSHONEES. 

There  are  three  bands  of  Indians  known  as  the  northwestern 
bands  of  the  Shoshonees,  commanded  by  three  chiefs,  Pocatello, 
Black  Beard,  and  San  Pitch,  not  under  the  control  of  Wash-a-kee; 
they  are  very  poor,  and  number  about  fifteen  hundred;  they  range 
through  the  Bear  River  [and]  lake.  Cache  and  Malade  valleys, 
and  Goose  Creek  mountains,  Idaho  Territory,  and  should  be 
under  charge  of  the  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs  for  that 
Territory.  They  come  into  Box  Elder  and  the  northern  settle- 
ments, within  this  Territory,  for  the  purpose  of  Uving  off  the 
people,  but  their  country  is  almost  entirely  outside  of  our  limits. 

Governor  Doty  negotiated  a  treaty  with  them  at  Box  Elder, 
Utah,  on  the  30th  day  of  July,  1863,  by  which  the  government 
agreed  to  pay  them  a  yearly  annuity  of  five  thousand  dollars 
($5,000.)  They  have  kept  the  treaty,  as  a  general  thing;  but, 
owing  to  their  country  being  so  much  of  it  occupied  by  the  whites, 
the  game  almost  entirely  destroyed  and  driven  away,  they  suffer 
frequently  from  hunger,  and  I  have  been  compelled  to  assist  them 
a  great  deal  during  the  past  winter,  or  else  they  might  have  felt 


236.  One  of  the  earliest  allusions  to  Wyoming  by  its  present  name.  The 
previous  January  a  Pennsylvanian,  James  M.  Ashley,  had  introduced  in 
the  House  of  Representatives  a  bill  to  provide  "a  temporary  government 
for  the  Territory  of  Wyoming,"  referred  by  the  House  to  the  Committee 
on  Territories.  So  late  in  the  session,  the  bill  never  got  out  of  committee. 
Abortive  proposals  in  1866  and  1867  were  for  a  Territory  of  Lincoln,  but 
the  name  Wyoming  was  revived  when  on  the  initiative  of  the  Senate  a 
Territory  was  actually  created  in  1868. 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI  213 

themselves  compelled  to  commit  depredations  upon  the  stock  of 
settlers  in  order  to  keep  themselves  and  families  from  starving. 

I  made  an  arrangement  early  in  the  winter  with  the  leading 
citizens  of  the  northern  portion  of  the  Territory  to  employ  chief 
Black  Beard  and  his  band  to,  herd  their  cattle,  and  pay  him  in 
flour  and  beef.  This,  with  relief  I  furnished  enabled  them  to  get 
through  the  winter. 

But  they  should  be  attached  to  an  agency  in  Idaho,  and  in- 
structed in  farming.  They  would  like  a  reservation  on  the  Snake 
river,  in  the  southwestern  corner  of  Idaho.--"  Though  they  are 
called  Shoshonees,  they  are  an  entirely  separate  and  distinct  people 
from  those  under  the  control  of  Wash-a-kee,  and  while  they  are 
friendly  they  are  not  disposed  to  associate  together.  .  .  .--^^ 

CXXII 

Luther  Mann,  Jr.,  Indian  Agent,  to  O.  H.  Irish,  Supt.  of 

Indian  Affairs,  dated  Fort  Bridger  Agency, 

Sept.  28,  1865.-^9 

Sir:  In  compliance  with  the  regulations  of  the  Indian  depart- 
ment, I  have  the  honor  to  submit  the  following  report  relative  to 
affairs  at  this  agency  during  the  past  year: 

The  Territory  over  which  my  surveillance  extends  is  bounded 
on  the  north  by  Snake  river,  east  by  the  Sweet  Water  and  North 
Platte  rivers,  south  by  Yampa  and  Bear  mountains,  and  west  by 
the  valley  of  Salt  lake.-^'^     The  Indians  occupying  this  tract  are 


237.  Such  a  reservation  was  never  set  aside.  President  Andrew  Johnson, 
by  Executive  Order  on  June  14,  1867,  had  created  a  reservation  for  the 
Boise  and  Bruneau  bands  of  Shoshones  and  Bannocks,  "Commencing  on 
the  south  bank  of  Snake  River  at  the  junction  of  the  Port  Neuf  River  with 
said  Snake  River;  thence  south  25  miles  to  the  summit  of  the  mountains 
dividing  the  waters  of  the  Bear  River  from  those  of  Snake  River;  thence 
easterly  along  the  summit  of  said  range  of  mountains  20  miles  to  a  point 
where  the  Sublette  road  crosses  said  divide;  thence  north  about  50  miles 
to  Blackfoot  River;  thence  down  said  stream  to  its  junction  with  Snake 
River;  thence  down  Snake  River  to  the  place  of  beginning."  This,  the 
Fort  Hall  Reservation,  embracing  about  1,800,000  acres  as  estimated,  was 
situated  in  southeastern  rather  than  southwestern  Idaho,  and  it  was  here 
that  the  so-called  mixed  bands  of  Shoshoni  and  Bannacks  were  eventually 
located. 

238.  Irish's  further  remarks,  on  the  Goships  or  Goshua  Utes,  Cum- 
umbahs  or  Weber  Utes,  Utahs,  Pi  Edes,  and  Pah  Utes  are  omitted  in  the 
present  printing. 

239.  39th  Congress,  1st  Session,  House  Executive  Document  1,  (Serial 
1248),  pp.  326-328. 

240.  As  Mann  describes  his  jursidiction,  it  extends  far  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  Utah  Territory  on  the  north  and  east,  the  jurisdiction  being 
tribal  rather  than  geographical,  except  that  he  leaves  out  of  account  the 
Wind  River  country  where  the  Shoshoni  now  lived  most  of  the  year. 


214  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


Luther  H.  Mann,  Shoshoni  Agent  at  Fort  Bridger,    1861-1869 
Original  given  to  Bancroft  Library  by  Dr.  Edward  F.  Corson 


known  as  the  eastern  band  of  the  Shoshonee  tribe,  under  the 
acknowledged  leadership  of  Wash-a-kee,  an  Indian  chieftain  who 
has  never  been  known  to  have  held  hostile  relations  with  the 
whites,  and  who,  when  a  portion  of  his  tribe  deserted  him  to  join 
a  band  of  insurrectionists,  remained  firm  in  his  allegiance,  though 
bound  to  keep  the  peace  by  no  treaty  stipulations. 

In  my  report  of  last  year  I  estimated  the  number  of  these  Indians 
at  fifteen  hundred  souls.  No  enumeration  could  be  made  this 
year,  but  from  the  best  data  I  am  able  to  obtain  I  should  set  the 
population  at  eighteen  hundred — men,  women,  and  children.  In 
addition  to  the  natural  increase  by  births,  there  have  been  additions 
from  neighboring  tribes  by  old  deserters  coming  back,  and  those 
individuals  who,  attracted  by  Wash-a-kee's  rising  home  [i.e., 
fame?]  have  cast  their  lot  with  him. 

This  tribe  is  entirely  nomadic;  and  there  being  no  reservation 
on  land  which  they  can  call  their  own,  they  spend  about  eight 
months  of  the  year  among  the  Wind  River  mountains  and  in  the 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI  215 

valleys  of  the  Wind  river,  Big  Horn  and  Yellowstone.  Here  they 
subsist  entirely  by  chase — buffalo,  deer,  elk,  and  the  mountain 
sheep  affording  them  their  only  food.  They  are  tolerably  well 
provided  with  comfortable  lodges,  perhaps  one  hundred  and  fifty 
in  all.  They  clothe  themselves  almost  exclusively  with  the  skins 
of  the  deer,  sheep,  and  buffalo,  made  into  garments  of  a  style 
peculiarly  their  own.  The  leggings  and  breech-cloth  are  not  very 
soon  to  be  replaced  by  the  pantaloons  worn  by  the  whites.  I 
observe  a  marked  improvement  each  year  in  their  means  of  pro- 
tection against  the  inclemency  of  the  weather.  This  people  have 
never  turned  their  attention  to  agricultural  pursuits,  nor  can  it  be 
expected  of  them  until  they  are  placed  upon  a  reservation  where 
they  can  have  the  necessary  protection.  If  they  are  not  provided 
with  such  a  home,  they  are  destined  to  remain  outside  of  those 
influences  which  are  calculated  to  civilize  or  christianize  them, 
as  has  been  done  in  many  parts  of  our  country  to  tribes  not  one 
whit  more  susceptible  of  being  rendered  useful  members  of 
society.  Wild  Indians,  like  wild  horses,  must  be  coralled  upon 
reservations.  There  they  can  be  brought  to  work,  and  soon  will 
become  a  self-supporting  people,  earning  their  own  living  by  their 
industry,  instead  of  trying  to  pick  up  a  bare  subsistence  by  the 
chase,  or  stealing  from  neighboring  tribes  with  whom  they  hold 
hostile  relations. -^^  I  trust  this  matter  will  engage  the  serious 
attention  of  the  department. 

As  I  have  said,  this  tribe  live  entirely  by  hunting  wild  animals, 
because  their  only  source  of  revenue  is  derived  from  the  sale  of 
skins.  The  result  of  the  past  year's  hunt  might  be  stated  approxi- 
mately at  eight  hundred  buffalo  robes,  five  hundred  beaver  skins, 
and  four  hundred  elk  and  mountain  sheep  skins.  These  products 
of  their  only  industry  are  either  bartered  with  other  tribes  for 
ponies,  or  with  white  traders  for  small  articles  of  merchandise — 
paint,  beads,  and  trinkets. 

The  Shoshonees  are  friendly  with  the  Bannacks,  their  neighbors 
on  the  north,  and  with  the  Utes  on  the  south,  but  are  hostile 
toward  the  tribes  on  their  eastern  boundary,  viz:  Sioux,  Arapahoes, 
Cheyennes,  and  Crows,  between  whom  there  is  more  or  less  steal- 
ing continually  going  on.  Wash-a-kee  feels  himself  too  weak  to 
engage  in  any  aggressive  movements  against  either  of  these  tribes, 
but  says  that  if  he  should  be  attacked  he  would  give  them  battle. 
When  the  tribe  arrived  at  this  agency,  in  June  last,  some  fifty  of 
the  braves  hearing  of  General  Connor's  expedition  against  the 


241.  The  history  of  a  tribe  even  so  peaceably  disposed  as  the  Shoshoni, 
as  brought  out  in  these  documents,  shows  that  the  acculturation  of  Plains 
Indians  was  far  more  difficult  than  such  idealism  as  Mann's  could  well 
comprehend. 


216  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Sioux,-^-  presented  themselves  armed  and  equipped,  eager  to  join 
the  troops  in  a  campaign  against  their  old  foes.  The  lack  of  a 
suitable  military  organization  moving  from  this  point  alone  pre- 
vented the  acceptance  of  their  services. 

The  sanitary  condition  of  the  tribe  is  good;  no  epidemics  have 
visited  them  and  vaccination  never  has  been  thought  necessary. 
They  mingle  so  seldom  with  the  whites  that  they  are  not  exposed 
to  their  diseases.  Pulmonary  affections  are  infrequent,  and  deaths 
from  any  cause  whatever  are  comparatively  rare. 

On  the  seventeenth  of  this  month  1  turned  over  to  Wash-a-kee 
the  annuity  goods  for  last  year,  which  came  too  late  for  delivery. 
These,  consisting  of  blankets,  calicoes,  butcher  knives  and  tobacco, 
were  distributed  to  the  most  needy  ones,  and  seemed  to  give 
universal  satisfaction.  The  time  had  arrived  for  the  tribes  to 
return  to  their  hunting  grounds  and  make  preparations  for  winter, 
or  I  should  have  insisted  on  their  remaining  until  the  goods  for 
the  present  year  came  to  hand,  which  would  have  made  their 
outfit  more  complete. 

It  affords  me  pleasure  in  stating  that  the  Indians  belonging  to 
this  district  are  peaceable  and  well  disposed;  that  all  their  acts 
have  been  in  strict  accordance  with  the  friendly  relations  which 
have  heretofore  existed  between  themselves  and  the  white  resident 
population  of  this  Territory,  as  well  as  those  passing  through.  In 
many  instances  they  have  aided  persons  seeking  to  develop  the 
mineral  resources  of  the  country  by  pointing  out  valuable  deposits 
of  silver  and  coal  or  oil  springs. 

No  outbreak  has  come  to  my  knowledge;  few,  if  any,  trespasses 
have  been  committed,  and  no  incursions  have  been  made  by  them, 
and  I  am  proud  to  say  that  they  remain  true  to  their  treaty 
stipulations. 


242.  Indian  troubles,  rising  in  intensity  through  the  sixties,  led  the  War 
Department  in  March,  1865,  to  merge  the  districts  of  Utah,  Colorado,  and 
Nebraska  into  a  single  District  of  the  Plains,  with  General  Connor  in 
command.  He  garrisoned  key  posts  along  the  overland  trail,  and  after  a 
number  of  bitter  local  engagements,  in  one  of  which  Lieut.  Caspar  W. 
Collins  met  a  celebrated  death,  sent  four  columns  north  into  the  Sioux 
country.  This  "Powder  River  Expedition,"  as  it  has  become  known,  has  a 
complex  history  but  was  on  the  whole  a  failure.  Grace  Raymond  Hebard 
and  E.  A.  Brininstool  wrote  a  detailed  account  of  the  campaign  in  The 
Bozeman  Trail,  Cleveland,  1922,  2  vols..  Vol.  1,  pp.  131-200,  237-261; 
and  another  appears  in  Fred  B.  Rogers'  Soldiers  of  the  Overland,  pp. 
146-246.  Col.  Rogers,  pp.  244-245,  contributes  a  military  critique  of  the 
campaign,  and  on  p.  167  notes  from  a  contemporary  Denver  newspaper 
Washakie's  premature  judgement,  voiced  at  the  outset  of  the  expedition, 
that  the  hostile  Indians  could  not  escape. 

Washakie's  interest  in  a  successful  campaign  is  evident  from  what  is 
said  in  various  of  our  documents  concerning  pressure  upon  his  people  in 
this  climactic  era  of  Sioux  power  on  the  Plains. 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI  217 

Some  dissatisfaction  has  been  expressed  by  them  that  the 
annuity  goods  do  not  reach  this  agency  in  time  enough  for  distri- 
bution to  let  them  get  to  their  winter  hunting  grounds  before  the 
snow  prevents  their  progress  thither.  I  would  therefore  urge  upon 
the  department  the  recommendation  made  in  my  last  annual 
report,  that  all  goods  designed  for  this  place  be  shipped  at  the 
earliest  practicable  moment,  in  order  that  they  may  reach  the 
agency  in  time  for  such  distribution. 

I  would  again  most  respectfully  urge  upon  the  department  the 
necessity  of  erecting  an  agency  building.  I  am  at  present  entirely 
dependent  upon  the  military  authority  of  this  post  for  shelter.-^^ 
I  would  also  urge  upon  your  department  the  necessity  of  furnishing 
the  agent  with  a  pair  of  mules  for  his  ambulance.  .  .  . 

CXXIII 

O.  H.  Irish,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  D.  N.  Cooley, 
Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt 
Lake  City,  Oct.  9,  1865.244 
Sir 

I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  a  communication 
from  the  Acting  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  under  date  of  1 3* 
ulto  granting  me  leave  of  absence  to  visit  Nebraska  and  Washing- 
ton in  which  I  am  requested  to  advise  you  of  the  probable  time 
of  my  arrival  in  the  latter  place. 

I  am  at  this  time  unable  to  say  when  I  can  in  justice  to  the 
public  service  leave,  but  will  advise  you  as  soon  as  I  can  do  so. 
The  delay  in  the  receiption  of  the  annuity  goods  is  going  to 
operate  more  unfavorable  than  I  anticipated.  We  have  had  heavy 
snows  in  the  mountains  already,  and  a  large  proportion  of  our 
goods  are  now,  as  near  as  I  can  learn  at  least  400  miles  distant. 
One  train  is  expected  here  in  about  five  days,  whether  I  will 
receive  by  it  a  sufficient  assortment  of  goods  so  that  I  can  proceed 
to  distribute,  I  will  not  be  able  to  determine  until  it  arrives. 

The  North  Western  Sho-Shonees  are  now  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Box  Elder  waiting  for  their  annuities  and  if  the  goods  are  not 
on  this  train,  I  do  not  see  any  other  way  for  us  to  do  than  to  get 
goods  to  supply  deficiencies  of  the  merchans  here,  to  be  paid 
for  out  of  the  goods  to  arrive.  If  I  do  not  make  some  such 
arrangement  I  must  either  subsist  these  Indians,  until  the  goods 


■  243.  Troops  had  been  stationed  in  the  Fort  Bridger  area  since  the  fall 
of  1857,  and  a  military  reservation  was  created  in  1859.  Most  of  the 
troops  were  withdrawn  in  1861,  with  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  but  a 
sergeant's  guard  remained,  and  in  December,  1862,  the  post  was  re- 
garrisoned  by  Connor.  Fort  Bridger  was  maintained  as  an  army  post 
till  1890. 

244.  1/1347-1865. 


218  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

come  which  our  limited  resources  will  not  warrant  or  send  them 
away  without  them  which  they  would  regard  as  a  violation  of  the 
treaty. 

The  Eastern  Bands  of  ShosShonees  have  gone  to  their  hunting 
grounds.  I  arranged  with  them  satisfactorily.  I  gave  them  pres- 
ents amounting  to  $2487.-  and  then  they  proceeded  to  Fort 
Bridger  where  Agent  Mann  gave  them  what  goods  he  had  over 
from  last  year,  and  they  were  satisfied  with  the  assurance  that 
they  would  receive  the  balance  of  their  annuities  for  the  year,  on 
their  return  next  spring. 

I  am  informed  that  the  unforeseen  delay  in  the  arrival  of  the 
goods  is  occasioned  by  the  difficulties  on  the  plains  that  the  train 
was  attacked  by  hostile  Indians  and  some  of  the  stock  run 
off,  and  one  man  killed. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances  the  goods  cannot  be  got  here 
as  early  as  the  necessities  of  the  service  requires  them,  so  long  as 
the  present  plan  of  transportation  is  adhered  to.  In  this  connec- 
tion I  beg  leave  to  refer  you  to  my  letter  of  the  SC^  of  January 
1865  and  other  communications  refered  to  therein  as  well  as  to 
mt  annual  report  dated  the  9*^  of  September  last.  .  .  . 

CXXIV 

O.  H.  Irish,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  D.  N.  Cooley, 
Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Washington, 

D.  C,  Dec.  15,  1865.-^5 
Sir: 

I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  herewith  a  Treaty  made  with  the 
Eastern  bands  of  Sho-Sho-ne  Indians,  in  which  they  give  their 
assent  to  the  amendment  proposed  by  the  Senate  on  the  7^*^  of 
March  AD  1864,  to  the  Treaty  made  and  concluded  at  Ft  Bridger 
Utah  Territory  on  the  2'^  day  of  July  AD  1863,  by  and  between 
the  said  Indians  and  the  United  States,  represented  by  James 
Duane  Doty  and  Luther  Mann  Jr.  Commissioners.  .  .  . 
[Endorsed:]  Enclosure  sent  to  Secretary  with  report  May  31, 
1869. 

cxxv 

O.  H.  Irish,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  D.  N.  Cooley, 
Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Washington, 
D.  C,  March  2,  1866.-^« 
Sir 

I  would  respectfully  suggest  that  a  large  Medal  [inserted  with 


245.  1/1393-1865. 

246.  1/128-1866. 


J 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE   SHOSHONI  219 

caret,  apparently  in  another  hand:  of  President  Johnson]  be  given 
to  Washakee  the  principle  Chief  of  the  Shosho-mees.  There  is 
no  more  deserving  Chief  Among  all  the  Indians — 

I  have  a  safe  opportunity  of  transmitting  it  to  him  by  the  hand 
of  W  A  Carter  Esq  Special  Mail  Agent  for  Utah.  .  .  . 

CXXVI 

O.  H.  Irish,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  D.  N.  Cooley, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Nebraska 

City,  N.  T.,  April  3,  1866.-^' 

Sir. 

I  have  the  honor  to  herewith  transmit  the  original  Treaty,  nego- 
tiated with  the  Eastern  Band  of  the  Shoshonee  Indians  which  was 
recently  found  among  the  late  Gov.  Doty's  papers  and  forwarded 
to  me  here.  .  .  .-^'^ 

[Endorsed:]  Treaty  and  amendments  sent  J.  Duane  Doty  Mar 
18  1864 

Endorsed  treaty  sent  to  Secretary  with  report  May  31,  1869 

CXXVII 

Luther  Mann,  Jr.,  Indian  Agent,  to  F.  H.  Head,  Supt.  of 
Indian  Affairs,  dated  Fort  Bridger,  June  9,  1866.^^^ 

Dear  Sir 

...  I  have  word  this  Morning  that  Washakee  the  Head  Chief 
of  the  Eastern  Band  of  Sho.Sho.nee  Indians  will  be  here  this 
Week  I  Should  be  much  pleased  to  receive  your  Contemplated 
Visit  on  his  arival  or  the  arival  of  the  Goods  designed  for  this 
agency  I  have  nothing  to  feed  them  on  their  arival  and  Stay  at 
this  place.  It  would  be  very  desirable  that  the  Goods  for  this 
agency  should  reach  here  at  the  Earliest  practicable  opportunity 
as  it  will  be  imposible  for  them  to  subsist  for  any  length  of  time 
in  this  locality.  .  .  . 


247.  1/222-1866. 

248.  Governor  Doty  died  in  office  in  Great  Salt  Lake  City  June  13, 
1865.  As  an  exception  among  Territorial  officials,  he  had  been  liked  by 
the  Mormon  people,  who  would  also  have  been  gratified  had  Irish  been 
appointed  his  successor.  For  the  Indian  Office  memorandum  filed  with 
the  present  letter,  see  Document  XC,  note  189.  (Annals  of  Wyoming 
Vol.  28  No.  2,  p.  205.) 

249.  Utah  Field  Papers,  1866. 


220  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

CXXVIII 

Luther  Mann,  Jr.,  Indian  Agent,  to  F.  H.  Head,  Supt.  of 
Indian  Affairs,  telegram  dated  June  14,  1866.^"^ 

By  Telegraph  from  Bridger 

WashaKee  the  Head  Chief  of  Eastern  Bands  Shoshonee  Indians 
Arrived  this  morning-^^ 

CXXIX 

Luther  Mann,  Jr.,  Indian  Agent,  to  F.  H.  Head,  Supt.  of 
Indian  Affairs,  telegram  dated  June  18,  1866^^^ 

By  Telegraph  from  Bridger 

Washakee  desires  to  know  if  the  ute  Indians  are  friendly — 

cxxx 

Luther  Mann,  Jr.,  Indian  Agent,  to  F.  H.  Head,  Supt.  of 
Indian  Affairs,  dated  Fort  Bridger,  July  26,  1866.-^'^ 

Sir 

The  Within  Bill  of  Provisions  was  received  by  Mr  James  on 
his  departure  from  this  place  you  will  please  retain  from  any 
Money  due  him  the  amount  and  remit  by  letter     $14.50 

The  following  amount  was  furnished  James  and  the  Indians 
with  him  on  their  arival  here  the  day  you  left  Bridger  Sugar  Tea 
Bread  Beef  Amounting  to  $10.50  which  was  paid  for  by  me  if 
that  amount  Could  be  paid  for  by  you  it  would  releive  me  please 
write  me  on  the  Subject  and  greatly  Oblige  ... 

CXXXI 

F.  H.  Head,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  D.  N.  Cooley, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt 

Lake  City,  August  13,  1866.25* 

Sir- 

Washakee,  the  chief  of  the  Eastern  Bands  of  Shoshonees,  with 


250.  Ibid. 

251.  While  at  Fort  Bridger  on  this  visit,  Washakie  and  other  Shoshoni 
chiefs  acknowledged  certain  issues  made  the  tribe  in  1865.  See  Document 
CXIX 

252.  Utah  Field  Papers,  1866. 

253.  Ibid. 

254.  H/340-1866.  Printed  in:  39th  Congress,  2nd  Session,  House 
Executive  Document  1    (Serial   1248),  p.   128. 


WASHAKIE  AND   THE   SHOSHONI  •         221 

some  300  of  his  men  came  in  a  few  days  since  to  make  me  a  visit. 
He  wears  about  his  neck  the  medal  which  you  sent  him  by  Judge 
Carter  of  F.'  Bridger  and  with  which  he  is  exceedingly  pleased — 
The  enclosed  photograph  [not  present]  was  taken  at  the  time  of 
his  visit,  and  is  a  very  good  hkeness.  He  is  by  far  the  noblest 
looking  Indian  I  have  ever  seen,  and  his  record  is  untarnished  by 
a  single  mean  action-  In  your  last  report  you  recommend  that 
medals  be  given  Washakee  and  Kanosh  Chief  of  the  Pah  Vents 
who  is  equally  deserving  of  such  a  testimonial,  or  present.-''"' 
I  beg  you  will  send  me  a  medal  to  be  presented  to  Kanosh. 
I  shall  visit  his  tribe  in  about  six  weeks  if  the  new  goods  arrive 
when  I  expect  them  and  would  like  to  take  it  with  me — It  would 
be  safely  transmitted  by  mail.  .  .  . 

CXXXII 

Luther  Mann,  Jr.,  Indian  Agent,  to  F.  H.  Head,  Supt.  of 

Indian  Affairs,  dated  Fort  Bridger  Agency, 

Sept.  15,  1866.-''" 

Sir:  In  compliance  with  the  regulations  of  the  Indian  depart- 
ment, I  have  the  honor  to  submit  the  following  report  relative  to 
the  affairs  of  this  agency: 

About  the  20th  of  September,  1865,  the  season  being  far  ad- 
vanced and  game  scarce,  the  Shoshones  immediately  set  out  for 
their  winter  hunting  grounds  across  the  mountains,  if  possible  to 
reach  there  before  the  snow  fell. 

The  whole  tribe  accompanied  Chief  Washakee  thither,  with  the 
exception  of  five  or  ten  lodges,  who  passed  the  winter  on  Green 
river,  about  fifty  miles  from  here,  where  they  subsisted  on  the' 
small  game  there  to  be  found,  and  making  no  demands  upon  me 
for  assistance.  The  main  portion  of  the  tribe  proceeded  to  the 
valleys  of  the  Pawpawgee  [Popo  Agie]  and  Wind  rivers,  where 
they  spent  the  winter  hunting  the  buffalo,  deer,  elk,  and  mountain 
sheep.    They  procured  during  the  season  upwards  of  one  thousand 


255.  In  his  annual  report,   Oct.   31,    1865,   the   Commissioner   had   re- 
marked : 

I  recommend  that  medals  and  presents  be  given  to  Washakee,  chief 
of  the  northeast  Shoshonees,  and  to  Konosh,  chief  of  the  Pah-Vants, 
as  a  special  testimonial  of  appreciation  by  the  department  of  their 
good  conduct  and  good  influence  over  their  people.  Washakee 
recently  asked  permission  to  take  part  in  the  campaign  against  the 
western  Sioux,  and  this  was  granted,  subject  to  the  arrangements  to 
be  made  with  the  military  commander  of  the  district  of  the  Upper 
Platte  ....  (39th  Congress,  1st  Session,  House  Executive  Document  1 
[Serial  1248],  p.  187.) 

The  medal  was  sent  out  to  Washakie  in  March;  see  Document  CXXV. 
A  similar  medal  was  sent  to  Kanosh  on  Sept.  1,  1866. 

256.  39th  Congress,  2nd  Session,  House  Executive  Document  1 ,  (Serial 
1284),  pp.  126-127. 


222         •  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

buffalo  robes  and  a  few  dressed  skins  of  other  named  animals,  a 
much  larger  collection  than  during  any  previous  year.  They  also 
secured  a  good  supply  of  dried  meat.  Although  the  past  was  the 
severest  winter  on  record  for  the  past  ten  years,  the  Indians  of 
my  agency  never  fared  better  nor  looked  so  fat  and  healthy  as  they 
did  on  their  arrival  here  this  summer,  proving  conclusively  that 
they  had  fared  sumptuously  every  day.  Such  well-fed  Indians 
could  not  be  otherwise  than  healthy,  so  that  the  mortality  among 
them  has  fallen  far  below  the  average. 

I  did  not  have  a  favorable  opportunity  for  taking  the  census 
of  the  tribe  this  year,  but  estimate  the  number  of  Shoshones  at 
nineteen  hundred.  Aside  from  the  natural  increase  by  births, 
which  has  not  fallen  short  of  former  years,  there  has  been  a  con- 
siderable addition  from  neighboring  tribes.  About  four  hundred 
Bannocks,  under  a  chief  named  Tahgay,  (a  very  worthy  Indian, 
and  in  whom  I  fully  repose  confidence,)  who  have  been  residing 
in  the  vicinity  of  Soda  Springs  and  along  the  Snake  river,  passed 
over  into  the  Wind  River  valley  and  located  themselves  adjacent 
to  the  Shoshones,  with  whom  they  are  at  peace.  They  also  accom- 
panied the  Shoshones  on  their  visit  to  this  agency,  and,  from  all 
that  I  can  learn  of  them,  I  think  they  desire  to  be  on  the  most 
friendly  terms  with  the  whites.  I  did  not  have  any  presents  for 
them,  and  was  informed  that  they  had  not  received  any  from  the 
Great  Father  in  times  past.  The  neglect,  if  any,  must  be  owing 
to  their  being  so  far  removed  from  any  agency.  I  supplied  them, 
however,  with  a  few  articles  of  food  for  their  immediate  wants 
out  of  my  own  pocket,  and  would  recommend  that  such  provision 
be  made  for  them  in  future  that  they  too  may  receive  a  share  of 
the  annuity  goods  with  their  neighbors,  the  Shoshones. 

These  Bannocks  will  undoubtedly  return  to  this  agency  once 
or  twice  during  the  year. 

The  supply  of  presents  for  the  Indians  of  this  agency  reached 
me  in  due  time,  was  ample  in  quantity,  and  gave  universal  satis- 
faction. 

Shordy  before  the  distribution  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting, 
in  company  with  Superintendent  Head,  Washakee  and  his  chiefs 
in  council,  on  which  occasion  the  superintendent  made  them  a 
speech,  and  the  best  of  good  feeling  prevailed.  Washakee  has 
lately  received,  under  the  pledge  of  friendship  from  the  President, 
a  fine  large  silver  medal,  bearing  the  image  and  superscription 
of  the  Great  Father. 

There  were  present  at  the  distribution  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  Utes  from  the  Uintah  agency,  who  came  for  the  purpose  of 
trading  with   their  neighbors,   the   Shoshones. ^'^^     Some   of   my 


257.  Although  there  were  intermittent  periods  of  bad  relations  between 
Utes  and  Shoshoni,  Utes  had  frequented  the  Fort  Bridger  area  for  purposes 
of  trade  from  the  time  the  fort  was  founded,  in  the  early  forties. 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI  223 

Indians  were  dilatory  in  coming  in  this  season,  but  I  did  not 
distribute  the  goods  until  all,  or  nearly  all,  had  arrived.  The 
cause  of  this  delay  is  the  scarcity  of  game  and  the  consequent 
difficulty  in  maintaining  an  independent  sustenance  at  this  post, 
for  they  have  but  little  money  to  buy  food  with.  I  would  here 
observe  that  the  location  of  this  agency  is  a  bad  one,  and  for  this 
reason:  the  Indians  are  obliged  to  come  a  long  way  from  their 
hunting  grounds  to  receive  their  presents,  and  by  the  time  they 
reach  me  their  stock  of  provisions  is  weU-nigh  exhausted,  and 
for  them  to  maintain  themselves  in  this  vicinity  without  an  abun- 
dance of  game  is  an  impossibility,  and  discourages  some  from 
coming  at  all.  I  would  therefore  recommend  that  a  portion  of 
their  annuities  be  given  them  in  money,  to  enable  them  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  subsistence  during  their  visit  at  this  agency. 

In  this  connexion  I  would  again  recommend  the  plan  of  locating 
this  tribe  upon  a  permanent  reservation  and  establishing  thereon 
an  agency,  and  make  such  other  arrangements  as  I  have  heretofore 
suggested  for  improving  their  condition. 

The  valley  of  the  Wind  River  mountains  is  the  territory  which 
the  tribe  have  selected  for  their  home,  and  this  is  the  place  where 
such  a  reservation  should  be  set  apart  and  an  agency  established. 

The  country  abounds  in  game,  has  a  very  mild  climate,  and 
possesses  agricultural  advantages  which  make  it  a  great  desidera- 
tum to  the  white  man.  Numerous  oil  springs  have  been  discovered 
and  located  in  the  valley  of  the  Pawpawgee,-^®  but  this  tribe  are 
strongly  opposed  to  any  invasion  of  their  territory  by  the  whites. 

I  greatly  fear  that  these  mineral  and  agricultural  resources  of 
the  country  will  turn  out  to  be  a  bone  of  contention  between  the 
whites  and  the  reds,  and  would  therefore  urge  that  the  tribe  have 
a  reservation  staked  out  which  may  be  held  sacred  to  them,  and 
not  be  encroached  upon  by  the  whites. 

Several  of  our  citizens  are  looking  toward  the  Wind  River 
country  with  a  view  to  its  development,  and  I  give  you  a  few 
extracts  from  a  letter  written  by  one  who  passed  the  winter  and 
a  part  of  the  spring  in  the  valley.  He  says:  "The  air  is  pure,  the 
water  of  the  best,  the  climate  mild  and  regular.  The  soil  is  not 
second  in  fertility  to  that  of  Illinois  or  Iowa,  farming  land  enough 
to  support  a  population  of  two  hundred  thousand  persons,  the 
climate  well  adapted  to  the  growth  of  small  grain  and  fruit,  espe- 
cially apples  and  vegetables.  There  is  plenty  of  timber  for  build- 
ing and  fencing  purposes.  The  scenery  is  most  beautiful  and 
picturesque.  There  are  two  oil  springs  in  the  valley,  one  of  which 
pours  forth  one  hundred  barrels  per  day.    There  are  good  indica- 


258.  These  springs  had  been  known  since  the  earHest  days  of  the 
mountain  men,  recorded  on  maps  by  Jedediah  Smith,  Captain  Bonneville, 
and  others,  and  their  value  has  been  realized  in  the  Lander  oil  field. 


224  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

tions  of  stone-coal  and  iron,  with  numerous  quarries  of  limestone 
suitable  for  building  purposes.  The  foot-hills  and  valleys  are 
covered,  winter  and  summer,  with  a  luxuriant  growth  of  nutritious 
grass,  making  the  finest  grazing  region  west  of  the  Missouri.  The 
mountains  give  indications  of  mineral  deposits.  But  little  snow 
fell,  and  what  did  fall  soon  disappeared.  Stock  can  be  wintered 
without  any  feeding.    Buffalo,  and  other  game,  abounds,"  &c.,  &c. 

As  long  as  our  Indian  tribes  are  permitted  an  existence  in  the 
land,  I  contend  that  they  should  have  a  territory  assigned  them 
where  they  can  procure  a  living,  instead  of  being  driven  away  to 
the  poorest  tracts  of  country,  where  a  white  man,  with  all  of  his 
superior  knowledge,  would  fail  to  make  a  living.  Washakee  and 
his  tribe  deserve  a  permanent  and  exclusive  reservation  in  the 
valley  of  the  Wind  river,  and  1  pray  you  to  let  them  have  it  at 
once.  The  subject  demands  serious  attention,  and  I  hope  it  will 
receive  a  proper  consideration.  The  Indian  must  be  reclaimed 
from  his  wild  ways,  or  he  will  continue  to  be  an  expense  to  the 
country  so  long  as  he  lives;  and  no  plan  of  rendering  him  a  self- 
supporting  and  law-abiding  citizen  is  so  effectual  as  that  one  which 
civilizes,  educates,  and  christianizes  him,  and  this  work  cannot 
be  done  save  on  a  reservation. 

The  Shoshones  have  not  been  engaged  in  any  warfare,  offensive 
or  defensive,  during  the  past  year  with  neighboring  tribes,  have 
been  at  peace  among  themselves,  and,  I  am  proud  to  say,  continue 
faithful  to  their  treaty  stipulations.  .  .  . 

CXXXIII 

F.  H.  Head,  Supt.  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  D.  N.  Cooley, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  Great  Salt 

Lake  City,  Sept.  20,  1866.    Extract?-''^ 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  my  annual  report  of  the  general 
condition  of  Indian  affairs  within  the  Utah  superintendency  for 
that  portion  of  the  year  past  during  which  I  have  been  acting  as 
superintendent.  The  Indian  tribes  within  this  superintendency 
are: 

1.  The  eastern  bands  of  Shoshones  and  the  mixed  bands  of 
Bannocks  and  Shoshones.  These  bands  all  recognize  Washakee 
as  chief.     They  number  about  four  thousand  five  hundred  souls. 

2.  The  northwestern  bands  of  Shoshones.  These  Indians 
number  about  eighteen  hundred.  Pokatello,  Black  Beard,  and 
San  Pitz  are  the  principal  chiefs. 


259.  39th  Congress,  2nd  Session,  House  Executive  Document  1,  (Serial 
1284),  pp.  122-126. 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE  SHOSHONI  225 

3.  The  western  Shoshones.  These  Indians  number  about  two 
thousand. 

4.  The  Goships  or  Gosha-Utes.  These  Indians  number  about 
one  thousand. 

5.  The  Weber-Utes  or  Cum-umbahs.  These  Indians  number 
about  six  hundred. 

6.  The  Utahs.  These  Indians  are  now  principally  consolidated 
into  two  bands,  one  under  the  control  of  Tabby,  who  has  suc- 
ceeded to  the  chieftainship  made  virtually  vacant  by  the  old  age 
and  infirmity  of  Sow-i-et.  This  band  is  composed  of  the  Tim-pa- 
nogs,  the  Uintas,  and  the  San-pitches,  and  numbers  about  four 
thousand.  The  other  Utahs  are  known  as  Pah-Vants,  and  are 
controlled  by  Ranosh  [Kanosh],  and  number  about  fifteen  hun- 
dred. 

7.  The  Pah-Edes.  These  Indians  number  about  six  hundred. 
Their  principal  chief  is  Tut-sey-gub-bets. 

8.  The  Pah-Utes.  These  Indians  number  about  sixteen  hun- 
dred. 


THE   EASTERN   BANDS   OF   SHOSHONES. 

These  Indians  are  under  the  special  supervision  of  Agent  Luther 
Mann,  whose  annual  report  is  herewith  transmitted  [document 
CXXXII].  They  are  the  most  wealthy  of  any  Indians  in  the 
Territory,  owing  to  their  hunting  grounds  embracing  much  terri- 
tory still  frequented  by  the  buffalo.  The  robes  taken  by  them 
on  their  hunting  excursions  form  an  article  of  traffic  of  consider- 
able importance,  and  enable  them  by  the  sale  of  their  surplus  skins 
to  purchase  ponies,  ammunition,  &c.  During  the  year  these 
Indians  have  been  entirely  friendly.  Washakee,  their  chief,  is 
the  noblest  Indian,  both  in  act  and  appearance,  that  I  have  ever 
known.  When  young  he  spent  much  of  his  time  for  many  years 
in  company  with  the  famous  Kit  Carson,  then  an  adventurous 
trapper  among  the  Rocky  mountains.  Carson  and  his  companions 
had  frequent  skirmishes  with  hostile  savages,  and  the  familiarity 
which  Washakee  thus  acquired  with  the  arts  of  civilized  warfare 
enabled  him  to  rise  to  the  chieftainship  of  his  tribe.-^*^     It  is  his 


260.  It  is  difficult  to  judge  the  correctness  of  these  comments.  Although 
Head  may  have  been  reporting  something  said  to  him  by  Washakie,  Carson's 
fame  had  been  spread  abroad  by  Fremont  as  early  as  1845,  and  he  had 
recently  been  much  praised  for  his  campaign  against  the  Navajos  in  the 
Canon  de  Chelly,  in  January,  1864.  Head  may  thus  have  been  disposed 
to  play  up  an  acquaintance  between  Carson  and  Washakie,  though  Carson 
did  not  enter  the  Shoshoni  country  until  the  fall  of  1831,  and  it  v^'as  some 
time  after  this  that  he  attained  prominence  among  the  mountain  men. 


226  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

boast  that  he  has  jiever  shed  the  blood  or  stolen  the  property  of  a 
white  man.  The  propriety  of  soon  locating  these  Indians  upon  a 
suitable  reservation  is  discussed  at  large  in  the  report  of  Agent 
Mann,  and  his  views  are  such  as  meet  my  entire  approbation. 
The  Wind  River  valley,  which  is  the  favorite  hunting  ground  for 
these  Indians,  will  be  the  most  suitable  locality,  unless  it  shall  be 
found  to  be  rich  in  mines  of  gold  and  silver  and  springs  of 
petroleum.  Should  this  be  the  case,  it  would  not  perhaps  be  the 
policy  of  the  government  to  prevent  the  development  of  its  mineral 
resources  by  setting  it  apart  as  a  reservation.  Its  location,  too, 
is  a  considerable  distance  from  the  usual  lines  of  travel,  and  would 
render  the  transportation  of  supplies,  presents,  &c.,  somewhat 
inconvenient  and  expensive.  The  miners  are,  however,  already 
prospecting  this  valley,  and  the  results  of  their  researches  will 
soon  be  known.  The  rapid  development  of  the  surrounding  terri- 
tory will  soon  render  the  isolation  of  the  valley  less  complete,  and 
should  it  not  be  valuable  for  mining  an  exploration  of  the  same 
should  be  made,  and  the  Shoshones  permanently  located  thereon. 
These  Indians  receive  an  annuity  of  $10,000,  according  to  the 
provisions  of  the  treaty  of  July  2,  1863.  This  amount  is  usually 
sent  in  goods,  and  is  ample  to  comfortably  clothe  the  Indians  in 
connexion  with  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  their  surplus  robes 
and  furs. 


NORTHWESTERN    SHOSHONES. 

These  Indians  are  very  poor,  their  country  affording  but  little 
game.  They  are  peaceably  disposed,  and  will  probably  become 
merged  in  the  eastern  bands  within  a  few  years,  should  Washakee 
live  and  retain  his  popularity  and  influence.  A  considerable 
number  of  these  Indians,  including  the  two  chiefs  Pokatello  and 
Black  Beard,  have  this  season  accompanied  Washakee  to  the  Wind 
River  valley  on  his  annual  buffalo  hunt.  These  Indians  receive 
an  annuity  of  $5,000  in  goods  by  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of 
July  30,  1863.  This  is  sufficient  to  clothe  them  comfortably,  but 
it  is  necessary  to  furnish  them,  during  the  winter  season  especially, 
a  considerable  amount  of  provisions  to  keep  them  from  starving. 
Neither  these  Indians  nor  the  eastern  bands  have  as  yet  displayed 
any  inclination  to  agriculture,  or  an  abandonment  of  their  nomadic 
life. 


EDUCATION  AND  WEALTH. 

There  are  no  schools  of  any  kind  yet  established  among  the 
Indians  in  Utah.  The  wealth  of  the  Indians  consists  almost  entirely 
in  horses,  of  which  some  bands  have  a  considerable  number.  No 
accurate  report  can  be  made  in  respect  to  the  number  owned  by 


WASHAKIE  AND  THE   SHOSHONI  227 

the  different  bands,  but  from  the  best  information  I  can  obtain 
I  should  place  it  as  follows: 

Eastern  bands  of  Shoshones 500 

Northwestern  bands  of  Shoshones 100 

Weber-Utes .-- 50 

Goships -..  20 

Utahs 400 

Total  number  of  horses 1,070 

The  horses  are  all  of  the  breed  usually  known  as  Mustangs, 
being  very  small,  but  capable  of  great  endurance.  Their  average 
value  would  be  probably  about  $30,  making  the  wealth  of  the 
tribe  in  the  Territory  $32,100. 


228 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


D 


1 


Perforaiors 


Wyoming  Mc^iaeologlcai  J^otes 

STONE  ARTIFACTS 

By 
L.  C.  Steege 

PERFORATING  ARTIFACTS 

One  of  the  most  controversial  of  all  the  stone  artifacts  to  be 
classified  are  the  drilling  types.  Collectors  will  readily  agree  as 
to  the  identification  of  these  artifacts,  but,  how  many  of  these 
stone  tools  actually  show  any  use  as  a  drill? 

An  iron-clad  classification  as  to  the  limits  of  size  and  form  is 
impossible  for  these  artifacts.  From  a  mechanical  and  technical 
standpoint  in  order  to  be  practical,  the  stem  of  a  drill  would  have 
to  be  made  quite  thick  to  withstand  the  downward  pressure  and 
the  twist  in  addition  to  the  resistance  of  the  object  being  drilled. 
Thin-stemmed  drills  would  never  stand  up  under  such  use. 

The  drilUng  of  hard  objects  such  as  stone  and  slate  would 
naturally  impart  a  ground  surface  on  the  point  of  a  stone  drill. 
The  drilling  of  softer  materials  such  as  wood  or  bone  would 
eventually  leave  a  glossy  polish  on  the  drill  point,  yet  upon  close 
examinations  of  these  so-called  drills,  I  have  still  to  find  ray  first 
evidence  of  such  usage. 

It  is  my  opinion  that  these  implements  with  the  long,  slender 
stems  (Figure  1;  A,  B,  and  C)  were  used  as  pins  or  fasteners  for 
robes,  cloaks  and  blankets  and  not  for  drilling  purposes  as  here- 
tofore believed. 

Perforators  and  borers  are  the  small  short-stemmed  tools  of  the 
"drilling"  classification.  (Figure  1;  D,  E,  and  F).  These  may 
be  described  as  a  short,  sharp,  and  tapered  point  made  on  a  flake 
or  blade  of  flint  and  having  a  flat  base  which  was  easily  grasped 
between  the  thumb  and  the  folded  index  finger.  The  cross  section 
of  the  point  is  roughly  lozengic  with  sharp  edges  which  add 
abrasion  to  the  penetrating  power  of  the  tip.  These  perforators 
were  used  with  a  twisting,  reaming  motion  with  downward  pres- 
sure applied  for  penetration.  Holes  could  be  made  in  buckskin, 
wood,  shell,  bone,  steatite,  slate  and  soft  stones. 

Occasionally  one  may  find  an  object  which  had  been  too  thick 
to  drill  from  one  side  only.  In  such  a  case  the  drilling  was 
restarted  on  the  opposite  face  with  a  result  that  the  hole  is  roughly 
shaped  Uke  two  hollow  cones  joined  at  their  apices — not  always 
too  correct  due  to  deficient  workmanship  or  a  slight  mis- 
calculation on  the  part  of  the  operator. 


230  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Drills  ("Pins"),  and  perforators  are  found  throughout  the 
United  States.  Wherever  chipped  implements  abound  in  numbers, 
you  can  expect  to  find  these  interesting  stone  artifacts. 


Wyoming  State  Mis  tor  I  cat  Society 

PROGRAM 

Fourth  Annual  Meeting 

September  27-28-29,  1957 

Cody,  Wyoming 

Friday  September  27  Registration:  Buffalo  Bill  Museum 

11 :  00  Exhibition  Flint  Lock  Shoot  by  members  of  the 

National  Muzzle  Loading  Association 

1:00  Historical  Tour  to  John  Colter's  camp  site  of 

1807 

4:30-  6:00  Tea  at  the  Buffalo  Bill  Museum,  sponsored  by 
the  Trustees  of  the  Museum  and  Mrs.  Mary 
Jester  Allen  and  Helen  Cody  Allen. 

Saturday  September  28 

8:30-10:00  Annual  Business  meeting  of  the  Wyoming  State 
Historical  Society. 

10:15  Tour   of   Historical   sites   north   and   west   of 

Cody.     Ned  Frost   and   E.   E.   Newton   in 
charge. 

12:00  noon    Barbecue  at  Cody  City  Park. 

1:30  Parade   in  costume  of    1807   period;   line   of 

march    from    Cody    City    Park    to    site    of 
pageant. 

2:30-  4:00  Fa.gQa.nt  John  Colter.  Site  of  pageant  just  west 
of  Cody.  Presented  by  the  Park  County 
Chapter  of  the  Wyoming  State  Historical 
Society,  Lucille  Patrick,  Chairman. 

4:30  Committee  meetings;  Executive  meeting. 

7:30  Banquet  at  Cody  Auditorium. 

L  H.  Larom,  Toastmaster 

Introduction  of  Distinguished  Guests 

Speaker:     Mr.   Merrill  J.   Mattes,  Regional 
Historian,  National  Park  Service. 


WYOMING  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  231 

DEBATE:  Authenticity  of  the  Colter  Stone 
Burton  Harris  (positive  side) 
W.  K.  Cademan  (negative  side) 
Moderators:  Dr.  T.  A.  Larson 

Mr.  Frank  Oberhansley 
10:00-Midnight  Square  Dancing 

Sunday  September  29 

9:30  Tour  to  Valley  Wyoming.  Dedication  of  plaque 

to  John  Colter. 
11:45  Buffet  lunch  at  Valley  Ranch  as  guests  of  Mr. 

and  Mrs.  I.  H.  Larom. 

EDITOR'S  NOTE: 

A  full  account  of  the  Fourth  Annual  Meeting  will  be  given  in 
the  April  1958  issue  of  the  Annals  of  Wyoming. 


Mook  Keviews 


Frontier  Editor.    By  Daniel  W.  Whetstone.     (New  York,  Hastings 
House,  1956.    287  pp.    $4.50.) 

Daniel  W.  Whetstone  is  owner  and  publisher  of  a  weekly  news- 
paper. The  Pioneer  Press  of  Cut  Bank,  Montana.  He  has  been  a 
citizen  of  this  small  town  at  the  edge  of  the  Rockies  and  the  Black- 
feet  Indian  Reservation,  not  far  from  the  Canadian  border,  since 
June  of  1909  when  it  was  a  rough,  tough,  delayed-frontier  outpost. 
The  title  would  indicate  that  the  book  was  an  autobiography,  but 
it  is  not — may  I  say,  regretfully,  not  nearly  enough  of  D.  W. 
Whetstone  is  in  its  287  pages. 

Essentially  this  is  a  volume  of  thumbnail  sketches  of  the  char- 
acters, good,  bad,  and  mixed,  who  sparked  Cut  Bank  and  helped 
to  bring  about  or  suffered  through  its  transition  from  a  raw,  wide- 
open,  completely  uninhibited  community  of  people  who  wanted  to 
keep  it  that  way,  to  its  present  status  as  an  oil  and  wheat  center 
with  a  way  of  living  which  makes  it  much  like  other  towns  of  its 
size  in  the  West.  As  a  chronicle  of  a  developing  community  this 
is  an  observant  man's  report  and  of  value  to  all  readers  and 
students  of  Western  Americana. 

While  Mr.  Whetstone  was  making  up  his  mind  to  settle  in  Cut 
Bank  and  establish  a  newspaper,  he  received  no  encouragement 
from  the  citizenry:  "Here  there  was  unhidden  evidence  of  hostility 
— with  one  and  only  one  exception  .  .  .  Richard  Ramsland,  the 
banker,  builder  and  real  estate  operator".  Being  stubbornn,  Mr. 
Whetstone  stayed  and  this  book  covers  his  forty-six  years  of  cover- 
ing the  ups  and  downs  of  Cut  Bank.  One  meets  a  rare  assemblage 
of  saloonkeepers,  bartenders,  elbow  benders,  bootleggers.  Orien- 
tals, cattlemen,  sheepherders,  homesteaders,  land  commissioners, 
wheat  ranchers,  promoters  and  oil  men.  Much  of  the  drama 
centers  in  the  "Cannibal  Islands",  the  saloon  district. 

The  following  paragraphs  epitomize  much  of  the  history  of 
towns  in  the  Northern  Great  Plains:  "The  little  annals  of  the  little 
towns  on  the  Northern  Plains,  on  and  off  the  railways,  went  some- 
thing like  this:  In  the  period  when  the  livestock  interests  consti- 
tuted the  major  industry  these  hamlets  grew  to  a  size  that  supplied 
all  needs — solid  and  liquid — and  then  remained  in  a  sort  of  sus- 
pended animation.  In  most  cases  this  was  the  way  the  business 
people  wanted  it. 

"When  the  homestead  invasion  filled  the  land  these  towns, 
regardless  of  the  wishes  and  sentiments  of  the  business  elements, 
quickly  expanded;  new  blood,  merchants,  bankers,  hotelmen, 
saloonmen,  food  dispensers,  liverymen,  itinerant,  excitement-loving 


BOOK  REVIEWS  233 

boomers  rushed  in,  in  the  hope  of  making  an  easy  dollar  or  two. 
Ministers  and  other  moral  uplifters  followed  later. 

"When  in  later  time  proven  commercial  oil  development  took 
place  in  many  parts  of  the  plains  this  produced  newer  and  greater 
enthusiasm  and  excitement.  It  brought  a  needed  stimulation  to 
sections  that  had  experienced  dark  days  after  high  hopes  had 
vanished.  The  stock  towns  that  became  wheat  towns — each  with 
no  less  than  a  half  dozen  grain  elevators  and  a  surplus  of  business 
places — were  falUng  apart  after  periods  of  drought,  grasshoppers, 
cutworms  and  accompanying  ills.  Now  they  had  a  new  and  more 
substantial  revival. 

"Those  attracted  by  the  oil  explorations  and  developments  were 
a  new  type,  not  at  all  like  the  sober-minded  and  little-travelled 
ruralists  and  townspeople;  they  were  a  rather  romantic  breed  of 
roamers  who  had  flitted  from  place  to  place  ...  It  was  cosmo- 
politanism invading  provincialism." 

Mr.  Whetstone's  two  great  interests  are  writing  and  politics. 
(He  has  been  Republican  National  Committeeman  from  Montana 
for  almost  ten  years).  He  has  been  identified  with  the  activities 
of  Cut  Bank  from  the  days  when  it  was  a  roistering  hamlet  of 
400  to  the  present  when  it  is  a  hustling  town  of  5,000.  There  is 
some  nostalgia  as  he  looks  back  to  the  old  frontier  days,  but  not 
much:  "Hardly  one  old  timer  took  advantage  of  the  oil  develop- 
ment or  the  other  chances  that  came  with  it.  A  great  many  of 
them  are  pensioners  or  spending  their  last  days  in  old  people's 
homes.  Like  the  Indians  they  failed  to  adjust  and  fell  before  the 
acquisitive  invaders."  As  for  Mr.  Whetstone:  "As  the  hill  slopes 
westward — and  I'm  hoping  not  too  abruptly — I  pause  to  recall 
that  speech  of  Spartacus  of  Thrace  .  .  .  'Oh,  Rome,  Rome,  thou 
hast  been  a  tender  nurse  to  me'  ". 

Bozeman,  Montana  Mrs.  Lois  B.  Payson 


Dakota  Territory,  1861-1889;  a  study  of  Frontier  Politics.  How- 
ard Roberts  Lamar.  (New  Haven,  Yale  University  Press, 
1956.    304  pp.    $4.50.) 

Political  histories  do  not  invariably  radiate  interest;  but  this 
remarkable  book  is  a  vivid  presentation,  full  of  local  color,  of 
the  exigencies  inherent  in  a  territory  unique  in  western  history 
in  that  it  had  a  political  organization  before  it  had  an  economic 
basis.  It  is  many  books  in  one.  On  the  local  level  it  is  a  story 
of  frontier  politics  in  the  two  Dakotas — a  rough  and  tumble 
political  eye-gouging  counterpart  of  the  six-gun  frontier  during  the 
wide-open  days — and  a  story  of  the  settlement  of  Dakota  territory 
that  catches  brilliantly,  if  briefly,  the  flavor  of  the  early  Dakota 
towns.    It  is  a  story  of  Dakota  personalities  done  with  a  deft  touch 


234  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

and  a  broad  eye  to  the  significance  of  certain  types  of  personalities 
in  the  settlement  of  the  frontier.  It  is,  along  the  way,  a  story  of 
the  place  of  the  recently  and  not  quite  thoroughly  defeated  Indians 
in  the  expanding  west,  and  the  complex  motives  of  the  frontiers- 
men in  determining  their  destiny. 

So  much  alone  would  make  the  book  rich,  but  this  is  local 
history  seen  in  very  broad  perspective.  If  any  of  the  younger 
historians  is  capable  of  attaining  the  breadth  and  depth  that  char- 
acterize Walter  Prescott  Webb's  approach  to  western  history, 
Lamar  is  the  man  to  watch.  Consequently,  the  politics  of  early 
Dakota  is  seen  in  all  its  gruesome  detail  as  a  reflection  of  the 
lowered  public  morality  that  pervaded  the  country  after  the  Civil 
War.  This  is  a  study  of  the  interaction  of  frontier  politics  and 
national  politics  during  the  most  corrupt  period  in  our  nation's 
history.  It  is,  above  all,  a  book  with  a  thesis  that  provides  one 
more  qualification,  a  major  one,  to  Turner's  concept  of  the  frontier 
as  the  breeding  ground  of  democracy. 

In  the  settlement  of  Dakota,  Lamar  sees  forest  man  launched 
by  expansive  forces  into  a  semi-arid  area  before  he  understood 
its  nature.  The  concept  of  the  Great  American  Desert  hampered 
agricultural  development,  the  railroads  were  slow  in  coming,  and 
in  the  interim  the  prairie  farmers  and  politicians  set  up  a  crude 
kind  of  state  sociahsm.  Before  the  territory  had  a  sound  economic 
basis,  government  and  politics  were  its  first  industry.  The  gov- 
ernment sold  or  gave  the  farmer  his  land,  helped  him  build  rail- 
roads, bought  his  produce  through  Indian  agencies  or  army  posts,, 
and  supported  his  newspapers  through  public  printing  contracts. 
As  a  result,  the  people  came  to  view  government  as  a  means  of 
solving  social  and  economic  problems.  Lamar  finds  this  habit  of 
mind  reflected  in  the  unfolding  of  successive  stages  in  the  terri- 
tory's political  history,  as  he  does  in  the  fact  that  today  a  larger 
percentage  of  the  population  of  North  and  South  Dakota  work  for 
the  government  than  that  of  any  other  state.  The  argument  is 
thoroughly  documented  and  valid  beyond  questions.  Historians 
should  now  determine  to  what  degree  the  same  terms  apply  to 
the  politics  of  the  rest  of  the  western  frontier. 

Colorado  College  Ellsworth  Mason 


Massacre:  The  Tragedy  at  White  River.  By  Marshall  Sprague. 
(Boston:  Little,  Brown  and  Company,  1957.  364  pp.  Illus. 
Endpaper  maps.     $5.00.) 

The  tragedy  at  White  River  Agency  in  northwest  Colorado  was 
the  massacre  on  September  29,  1879,  of  Nathan  Meeker,  agent  to 
the  Ute  Indians,  with  all  his  employes,  and  the  capture  by  the 


BOOK  REVIEWS  235 

Indians  of  his  wife  and  daughter  and  another  girl.  The  history  of 
the  West  is  full  of  massacres  and  captures,  but  there  was  no  other 
that  had  exactly  the  same  dramatic  values  that  this  one  had.  And 
Sprague's  writing  ability,  plus  careful  research,  brings  these  dra- 
matic values  out  in  all  their  intensity. 

The  book  is  an  outstanding  example  of  the  contribution  that 
a  scrupulous  writer  can  make  to  the  understanding  of  history. 
Sprague  tells  the  sensational  story,  and  tells  it  well.  But  beyond 
this,  he  sets  it  in  its  historic  background,  and  he  does  so  with  a 
fidelity  to  the  facts  that  is  too  often  lacking  in  popular  writing. 
Sprague  is  conscientious  as  well  as  talented.  He  cites  his  sources 
but  he  does  so  unobtrusively  so  that  no  footnotes  get  in  the  way 
of  his  narrative.  But  the  footnotes  are  there,  lending  authority 
to  the  work. 

Both  plot  and  characterization  are  skilfully  handled  as  in  a 
well-knit  novel.  The  unique  personalities  of  the  idealistic  Meeker 
and  the  members  of  his  family  and  entourage  are  emphasized. 
So  is  the  factual  background — the  land  hunger  of  the  white  men, 
the  corruption  of  the  government  men  deaUng  with  the  Indians, 
and  the  Indians'  devotion  to  their  homeland.  Sympathy  for  the 
oppressed  and  misunderstood  savages  is  evident,  as  is  sympathy  for 
those  who  misunderstood  them.  Meeker  himself  is  the  most 
notable  of  these,  and  his  pitiful  but  determined  attempt  to  convert 
the  Utes  overnight  from  savagery  to  civilization  is  shown  as  the 
culminating  cause  of  the  tragedy  that  eventually  overwhelmed  them 
all. 

Several  Wyoming  figures  play  their  parts  in  the  drama:  Major 
Thomas  T.  Thornburgh,  commander  of  the  ill-fated  troops  from 
Fort  Steele  who  died  with  him  at  Milk  River  on  their  belated  ride 
to  Meeker's  rescue;  Thornburgh's  guide,  Joe  Rankin  of  Rawlins; 
and  Rawlins'  "first  citizen,"  James  France,  whose  warnings  Meeker 
disregarded  because  Meeker  thought  the  pioneers  "exaggerated 
everything"  in  an  effort  to  compensate  for  the  boredom  of  border 
life. 

But  of  all  the  dramatis  personae  in  the  book  it  is  perhaps  the 
women  who  stand  out  the  strongest.  To  just  what  extent  the 
women  prisoners  of  the  Utes  found  their  captivity  painful  and  to 
what  extent  they  looked  back  upon  it  as  a  unique  and  even  pleasant 
experience  is  left  pretty  much  for  the  reader  to  decide  for  himself. 
Sprague  seems  to  feel  that  the  women  themselves  looked  upon  at 
least  some  phases  of  their  experience  with  mixed  emotions. 

This  is  a  carefully  written  book,  and  it  v/ill  richly  repay  the 
careful  reader. 

Denver,  Colorado  Maurice  Frink 


236  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

Navajo  and  Ute  Peyotism:  A  Chronological  and  Distributional 
Study.  By  David  F.  Aberle  and  Omer  C.  Stewart,  {University 
of  Colorado,  Series  in  Anthropology,  No.  6.  1957.  Boulder: 
Univ.  of  Colorado  Press.     129  pp.     $2.50.) 

This  study  provides  new  and  reliable  information  on  an  im- 
portant phase  of  the  history  of  the  peyote  cult.  It  deals  with  the 
transmission  of  the  cult  from  the  Dakota  to  the  Northern  Ute 
and  thence  to  the  Southern  Ute  and  eventually  to  the  Navajo. 
Also  described  is  the  spread  of  the  cult  over  much  of  the  Navajo 
country  and  the  present  distribution  in  this  area.  It  is  essentially 
an  historical  exposition  largely  concerned  with  a  description  of 
events  in  this  particular  slice  of  American  history. 

The  peyote  cult  has  been  of  interest  to  students  of  diffusion  and 
other  cultural  processes  and  a  considerable  literature  about  it  is 
gradually  developing.  It  is  a  widely  diffused  religious  movement 
including  both  native  American  and  Christian  elements.  Impor- 
tant rituals  involve  the  ingestion  of  the  peyote  cactus  (Lophophora 
williamsii)  which  produces  a  variety  of  psychological  effects. 

The  effective  introduction  of  the  peyote  cult  to  the  Northern 
Ute  from  the  Dakota  took  place  in  1914  through  missionary  work 
by  Samuel  Lone  Bear  who  was  originally  from  Pine  Ridge,  South 
Dakota.  Earlier  travels  between  1906  and  1908  by  White  River 
Ute  to  the  Dakota  appear  to  have  acquainted  the  former  with  the 
cult  and  facilitated  later  proslytizing. 

Transmission  to  the  Southern  Ute  took  place  by  several  instru- 
ments. A  Northern  Ute  convert  named  Wee'tseets  brought  the 
cult  to  Towaoc  between  1914  and  1917.  Ignacio  seems  to  have 
been  visited  by  Lone  Bear  also  between  1914  and  1917.  Earlier 
contacts  with  peyote  from  Oklahoma  and  from  the  Arapaho  may 
have  taken  place. 

The  cult  was  introduced  to  the  Navajo  from  the  Towaoc  Ute. 
Some  Navajo  groups  north  of  the  San  Juan  may  have  gotten  it 
before  1920.  It  does  not  appear  to  have  been  widespread  until 
after  1930.  Probably  in  the  early  1930's  there  developed  in  the 
Mancos  Creek  area  a  group  of  Navajo  peyote  priests.  A  number 
of  Navajoes  also  made  contact  with  the  cult  through  employment 
on  C.  C.  C.  projects  on  the  Southern  Ute  reservation  between 
1933  and  1938.  Before  1935  there  are  only  scattered  reports  of 
the  peyote  cult  south  of  the  San  Juan  and  after  1937  there  was  a 
great  increase  in  number  of  meetings  reported.  By  1940  the  cult 
was  widespread  enough  to  have  action  taken  against  it  by  the 
Navajo  Tribal  Council.  Rapid  development  was  apparently  re- 
lated to  the  increase  in  economic  and  other  personal  problems 
involved  with  difficulties  developing  out  of  government  stock 
reduction  programs  and  similar  activities.    Peyote  is  still  spreading 


BOOK  REVIEWS  237 

and  numbers  of  converts  are  growing.  In  1951  12  to  14  percent 
of  the  Navajo  were  involved.  Distribution  is  still  spotty  with 
some  areas  and  communities  having  larger  proportions  of  members 
than  others. 

The  distribution  of  the  peyote  cult  and  especially  the  matter  of 
its  acceptance  or  non-acceptance  by  particular  groups  has  long 
been  of  interest  as  an  indication  of  variation  in  cultural  ethos. 
Though  these  authors  are  primarily  interested  here  in  history,  they 
present  an  interesting  consideration  of  patterns  of  spread  on  the 
Navajo  Reservation  as  related  to  different  intensities  of  general 
contact  and  special  appeal  to  specific  individuals.  The  conclusions 
are  that  intense  contacts  are  more  important  and  special  cult 
appeal  less  important  than  some  students  might  expect. 

Taken  as  a  whole  this  work  represents  a  careful  bit  of  crafts- 
manship and  a  real  contribution  to  the  growing  literature  of  peyote. 

University  of  Wyoming  William  Mulloy 


From  Trapper  to  Tourist  in  Jackson  Hole.  By  Elizabeth  Wied 
Hayden.  (Paper-bound  pamphlet,  1957.  47  pp.  Price 
$1.00) 

The  volume  is  well  annotated,  with  sixty-six  references,  which 
shows  the  author  has  made  a  review  of  the  literature  of  the  region. 
There  are  seventeen  sub-headings,  dealing  with  the  Geology,  The 
Discovery  of  the  Hole,  The  Astorians,  The  Expedition  of  1816, 
The  Mountain  Men  of  1822,  The  Fur  Trade  Era  of  1832,  The 
Prospectors,  Sheep  Men  Warning,  Some  of  the  Expeditions  into 
the  Region,  The  Settlers  of  Jackson  Hole,  Indian  Trouble  of  1895, 
Early  Days  in  Jackson,  The  Elk  Herd,  The  Gros  Ventre  Slide, 
and  The  Preservation  of  the  Area  by  the  Rockefeller  interests. 

This  small  pamphlet  will  serve  the  purpose  of  giving  a  glimpse 
into  the  historic  past  of  one  of  America's  most  scenic  wonderlands. 

This  small  book  has  neither  introduction  nor  index,  but  there 
are  three  excellent  reproductions  from  the  collection  of  H.  R. 
Crandall,  one  of  the  great  scenic  photographers  of  the  West. 

Denver,  Colorado  Nolie  Mumey,  M.D. 


Riders  of  Judgment.    By  Frederick  Manfred.     (New  York:  Ran- 
dom House,  1957.     368  pp.     $3.95.) 

"Riders  of  Judgment,"  is  a  surprisingly  realistic  novel  of  the 
Middle  Fork  of  the  Powder  River  Country  in  the  late  '90's,  giving 
a  vivid,  historically-sound  picture  of  Wyoming  cow-outfits,  cow- 


238  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

boys  and  events  leading  up  to,  and  through,  the  Johnson  County 
Cattle  War. 

Manfred  has  done  much  more  than  relate  dramatic  happenings. 
He  has  made  this  colorful  period  and  these  places  come  to  life 
through  his  keen,  deep  analysis  of  each  character.  His  cowboys 
are  cleverly  drawn,  definitely  individualistic  as  they  actually  were, 
a  queer  combination  of  strength,  courage,  cruelty  and  carefreeness, 
roughness  and  softness.  He  has  brought  out  clearly  the  geo- 
graphical phase  of  this  rough  country,  where  men  of  all  types, 
confronted  with  the  harsh  code  and  seeming  cruelty  of  the  early 
west,  had  to  adjust,  each  in  his  own  individual,  good  or  bad,  way. 

He  has  shown  the  great  confusion  of  the  time  (always  present 
when  a  change  takes  place)  when  a  man  didn't  know  for  certain 
who  was  friend  or  foe,  when  brother  was  pitted  against  brother 
and  family  against  family;  as  in  Civil  War  days,  when  a  man  had 
to  accept  violence  and  friendship,  and  chart  his  own  course  alone, 
under  normal  conditions  in  order  to  survive. 

The  ending  of  the  book  shows  Manfred's  skillful  ability  as  a 
writer.  It  closes  with  a  sense  of  great  humility,  leaving  a  broader 
understanding  of  mankind  and  a  feeling  of  reluctance  to  judge  the 
actions  of  any  man,  whether  honorable  or  dishonorable, — for 
each,  of  necessity,  meets  his  destiny — bravely,  cowardly,  weakly 
or  strongly — each  fallen  victim  to  the  turbulence  within  himself, 
thus  paying  the  price  for  living  the  Ufe  he  chose  and  making  the 
decisions  he  made. 

Over  Manfred's  keen  insight  into  human  hearts  is  the  beautiful 
descriptions  of  nature,  giving  a  final  touch  of  reality,  an  added 
meaning  to  the  story.  This  meticulous  care  in  bringing  out  little 
details  shows  the  author  is  a  careful  observer  of  nature  and  under- 
stands the  things  he  writes  about. 

It  is  a  great  book,  not  like  the  average  "western"  which  is  read 
and  cast  aside.  The  reader  will  long  remember  Cain  Hammett, 
the  cowboy's  personal  bravery  and  staunch  code  of  living. 

Kaycee,  Wyoming  Thelma  G.  Condit 


The  Horsecatcher.     By  Mari  Sandoz.     (Philadelphia:  The  West- 
minster Press,  1957.     192  pp.     $2.75.) 

In  her  latest  book.  The  Horsecatcher,  Mari  Sandoz  has  contin- 
ued her  writing  of  the  American  Indian  which  she  began  with 
Crazy  Horse  (1942)  followed  by  Cheyenne  Autumn  (1953),  two 
works  which  deal  with  the  Indian  in  his  native  life  and  as  he  came 
into  association  and  conflict  with  the  white  man  in  American 
history.  In  this  new  work,  however,  she  has  left  history  as  such 
and  has  written  a  brief,  imaginative  novel,  but  the  work  she  did 
to  gather  the  material  for  her  histories  has  without  doubt  made  the 


BOOK  REVIEWS  239 

writing  of  this  novel  possible  and  has  given  it  its  obvious  truth- 
fulness— truthfulness  to  Indian  life,  character,  and  psychology. 
The  dedication  of  the  book  would  indicate  that  she  has,  as  she 
had  for  Miss  Morissa  (1955),  living  models  for  her  fictional  horse 
catcher. 

The  Horsecatcher  is  essentially  a  simple  story,  one  which  is 
quite  likely  to  be  thought  of  as  a  book  for  teenagers,  and  it  is. 
But  it  is  more  than  that.  It  is  one  more  serious  contribution  to 
our  understanding  of  the  Indian;  and  though  it  is  fiction,  it  is  like 
history  in  that  it  illuminates  the  past.  Further,  it  can  have  mean- 
ing for  both  adolescents  and  adults  in  this  age  of  conformity. 
For  Young  Elk,  the  Cheyenne  boy  who  is  the  center  of  the  novel, 
was  a  genuine  non-conformist — a  rarity  in  his  day  and  society  as 
in  ours,  unless  one  equates  eccentricity  with  non-conformity.  His 
non-conformity  was  in  those  things  that  matter,  a  deeply  felt 
rebellion  against  the  tribal  pattern  which  required  every  young 
brave  to  earn  his  place  by  deeds  of  war,  by  killing,  and  by  courage 
and  daring  which  were  too  much  their  own  ends.  "I  cannot  go 
on  the  warpath,"  he  told  the  Bowstrings,  the  tribal  warrior  society, 
when  they  asked  him  to  join.  Instead,  he  would  earn  his  standing 
by  catching  and  taming  the  wild  horses  which  dotted  the  land.  His 
was  the  hard  choice  because  he  must  be  thought  by  the  tribe  to  be 
a  coward  and  weakling,  yet  it  was  more  dangerous  than  the  usual 
course  and  required  more  real  courage  as  he  had  always  to  be 
alone  and  often  far  in  enemy  territory,  unarmed,  the  victim  of 
ruthlessness  if  he  were  caught.  But  he  was  faithful  to  his  choice. 
Once  he  was  forced  to  kill  an  enemy  to  protect  the  village,  but  he 
never  ceased  to  mourn  the  deed.  During  the  months  he  was 
away  from  the  tribe,  by  himself,  living  without  tribal  comforts 
close  to  the  earth  as  he  searched  out  the  wild  horses,  his  firm 
belief  was  strengthened  "that  all  things  of  the  earth  and  sky  were 
a  part  of  him.  True  it  was  necessary  to  kill  game  to  feed  the 
people — buffalo  for  meat,  but  when  a  man  died  he  returned  to  the 
grass  which  in  its  turn  fed  the  buffalo.  So  it  was  all  one  great 
holy  circle,  a  round,  as  all  great  things  are  round — the  moon,  the 
sun,  the  earth's  far  horizon." 

The  novel,  then,  is  the  story  of  Young  Elk's  struggle  against 
destruction  and  his  victory,  tribal  acceptance  on  his  terms.  As  it 
progresses,  Miss  Sandoz,  as  usual,  gives  us  a  few  memorable  char- 
acters in  a  brief  space,  Y'oung  Elk's  father,  the  elder  Horsecatcher, 
the  women — people  of  great  affection,  delightful  humor,  and 
genuine  dignity. 

"The  Horsecatcher,"  though  less  pretentious  than  either  "Chey- 
enne Autumn"  or  "Crazy  Horse,"  deserves  to  stand  with  them 
because  it  is  filled  with  the  same  insight  into  the  Indian  character 
which  has  made  those  earlier  books  classics  and  because  it  is 
written  in  that  same  distinctive  style,  a  prose  of  great  simplicity, 


240  ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 

dignity,  and  beauty.  This  is  a  way  of  writing  which  has  its  origin 
and  takes  its  life  from  the  way  Mari  Sandoz  regards  the  American 
Indian,  with  great  sympathy,  understanding;  admiration,  and  a 
true  sense  of  his  tragic  past.  In  the  foreword  to  "Crazy  Horse" 
she  has  written:  "In  it  [Crazy  Horse]  I  have  tried  to  tell  not  only 
the  story  of  the  man  but  something  of  the  life  of  his  people  through 
that  crucial  time.  To  that  end  I  have  used  the  simplest  words 
possible,  hoping  by  idiom  and  figures  and  the  underlying  rhythm 
pattern  to  say  some  of  the  things  of  the  Indian  for  which  there 
are  no  white-man  words,  suggest  something  of  his  innate  nature, 
something  of  his  relationship  to  the  earth  and  the  sky  and  all  that 
is  in  between."  She  has  tried  to  do  the  same  thing  in  "The  Horse- 
catcher"  and  has  succeeded  again,  this  time  writing  only  of  the 
Indian.  The  white  man  and  the  tragedy  he  brought  are  remote 
and  unconsidered. 

This  is  a  slender  but  beautiful  little  book,  and  it  should  remind 
its  readers  once  more,  if  they  are  affected  by  beauty  and  by  under- 
standing of  universal  human  nature,  that  Mari  Sandoz  is  not  just 
a  writer  of  books  about  the  Indians  and  the  West,  but  a  creative 
artist  of  the  first  rank,  one  who  knows  people,  and,  like  the  poets, 
knows  how  to  put  the  very  best  words  in  the  best  possible  order. 

University  of  Wyoming  Richard  Mahan 


Contributors 


Dr.  Ake  Hultkrantz,  assistant  professor  at  the  University  of 
Stockholm,  Sweden,  received  his  Ph.D.  from  that  institution  in 
1953.  In  1948  and  1955  Dr.  Hultkrantz  visited  Wyoming  for 
anthropological  and  historical  research,  investigating  the  Arapaho 
and  Shoshoni  Indians,  their  culture  and  their  history.  He  is  cur- 
rently preparing  a  book  on  the  Mountain  Shoshoni  or  Sheepeater 
Indians  of  Wyoming.  In  August  1957  he  again  visited  the  Wind 
River  Reservation  in  Wyoming  to  continue  his  research.  Dr.  Hult- 
krantz is  a  member  of  a  number  of  societies  in  Sweden,  and  in 
the  United  States  is  a  Foreign  Fellow  of  the  American  Anthro- 
pological Association  and  a  Councilor  of  the  American  Folklore 
Society. 


Norman  D.  King,  Colonel  in  the  U.  S.  Army,  was  an  examiner 
in  the  railway  mail  service,  stationed  at  Cheyenne,  Wyoming,  from 
1926  to  1940,  at  which  time  he  entered  the  Army  as  a  Captain. 
He  was  born  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  he  attended  the  public 
schools  and  Western  Reserve  University.     He  was  graduated  from 


CONTRIBUTORS  241 

the  Command  and  General  Staff  College  in  1943.  During  his 
service  he  has  spent  four  years  in  the  Okinawa  Ryukyu  Islands, 
and  twelve  years  in  Washington,  D.  C.  He  is  the  author  of  two 
booklets  written  for  the  Federal  Government,  "How  to  Recognize 
a  German  Soldier  in  Six  Easy  Lessons"  (1944),  and  "Ryukyu 
Islands",  now  in  the  third  edition.  His  present  address  is  Arling- 
ton, Virginia. 

Mrs.  Marion  Myers  Paschal  was  born  in  Evanston,  Wyo- 
ming, and  received  her  education  in  the  schools  of  Evanston  and 
at  the  University  of  Wyoming.  Following  her  marriage  in  1929 
to  James  L.  Paschal,  she  has  lived  in  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  where  Dr. 
Paschal  obtained  his  Ph.D.  degree  from  Cornell  University,  in 
Las  Cruces,  New  Mexico,  Denver,  Colorado,  and  from  1944-57 
in  Fort  Collins,  Colorado,  where  Dr.  Paschal  was  on  the  faculty 
of  the  Colorado  State  College  A.  &  M.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Paschal  are 
currently  living  in  LaPaz,  Bolivia,  where  he  is  Chief  Economic 
Advisor  to  the  Bolivian  Department  of  Agriculture.  They  are 
the  parents  of  three  children. 

(Charles  a.  Myers  was  born  on  his  father's  ranch  in  Uinta 
County,  Wyoming,  on  November  23,  1871,  and  his  early  life  was 
spent  in  the  now  disappeared  town  of  HilHard,  Wyoming,  where 
he  attended  school.  1  His  formal  education  ended  when  he  was 
about  twelve  years  old,  but  his  mother  assisted  in  his  continued 
study  for  a  number  of  years  following  that.  Mr.  Myers  was  an 
active  member  of  the  Wyoming  Stock  Growers  Association,  serv- 
ing on  the  executive  committee  for  many  years  and  as  President 
from  1940-42.  He  was  a  member  of  the  American  National 
Cattlemen's  Association  for  more  than  fifty  years.  He  was  a 
Senator  in  the  State  Legislature  of  Wyoming  for  twelve  years,  a 
member  of  the  Wyoming  Live  Stock  and  Sanitary  Board,  and 
President  of  the  Stock  Growers  National  Bank  of  Evanston.  In 
1948  the  University  of  Wyoming  bestowed  upon  him  an  honorary 
degree  in  recognition  of  his  outstanding  service  to  the  State.  Mr. 
Myers  passed  away  at  the  home  of  his  daughter  in  California  on 
^May  11,  1952.  He  is  survived  by  a  son,  J.  W.  Myers  of  Evanston 
who  is  also  a  Wyoming  State  Senator,  Sand  two  daughters,  Mrs. 
Paschal  and  Mrs.  Edna  Duncan  of  Elverta,  California. 

Mrs.  Thelma  Condit.  See  Annals  of  Wyoming,  Vol.  29, 
No.  1,  April  1957,  page  120. 

Louis  C.  Steege.  See  Annals  of  Wyoming,  Vol.  29,  No.  1, 
April  1957,  page  121. 

Dale  L.  Morgan.  See  Annals  of  Wyoming,  Vol.  29,  No.  1, 
April  1957,  pages  120-121. 


Qeneral  hdek: 


VOLUME  29 


Aberle,  David  F.,  and  Stewart,  O.C., 
Navajo  and  Ute  Peyotism,  re- 
viewed by  William  Mulloy,  236- 
237. 

Abernathy,  "Wild  Cat"  Sam,  59. 

Account  books  (Peters  and  Alston) 
sample  of,  54. 

Akwenasa,  Wyo.,  159. 

Albin,  Wyo.,  159. 

Alkali  Lake  (near  Ice  Slough)   193. 

Alston,  Mr.,  51,  54. 

Alta,  Wyo.,  159. 

Anchor,  Wyo.,  157. 

Anderson,  Albert  G.,  Jr.,  review  of 
Feud  on  the  Colorado,  by  Arthur 
Woodward,  114-115. 

Anderson,  Albin,   159. 

Anderson,  James,  190. 

Anderson,  Major,  70,  74. 

Arthur,  President  Chester,  135. 

Artifacts,  See  Indian  artifacts. 

Ash  Hollow  Spring,  Neb.,  72. 

Ashley,  James  M.,  212. 

Ashley,  William,  at  Independence 
Rock,  79. 

Ashley-Smith  expedition,    192. 

Aspentunnel,  Wyo.,  159. 

Atlantic  City,  Wyo.,  157,  158. 


Badwater,  Wyo.,   157. 

Bagley,   Lester,   addresses  group  on 

Three    Crossings,    189-192;    gives 

facts  about  Fort  Casper,  67-69. 
Baker,  Mrs.  Agnes,  34. 
Bancroft,  Mr.  (Indian  Agent)  94. 
Bannock     Indians:     See     Indians: 

Tribes,  Bannock. 
Bannock  trail,  138;  route  of,  140. 
Bar  C  ranch,  51,  56,  65,  169;  illus. 

42. 
Barber,  Dr.  A.  W..  84. 
Barnum,  Wyo.,  61. 
Battle,  Wyo.,  158. 
Battle  Lake,  158. 
Battle  of  Bear  River,  1863,  93. 
Battle  of  Red  Buttes,  1865,  67,  69- 

72. 
Bean,  George  Washington,  198. 
Bear  River,  152. 


Bear  River  Battle,   1863,  93. 

Bear  River  Ranch,  155. 

Bear  Trap  Creek,  60. 

Bearcreek,  Wyo.,  157. 

Beau  Soli,  Thomas  de,  82. 

Bedford,  Wyoming,  38-40. 

Bedford  and  its  Namesakes,  by  Ken- 
neth E.  Crouch,  38-40. 

Before  Barbed  Wire,  by  M.  H. 
Brown  and  W.  R.  Felton,  re- 
viewed by  Henryetta  Berry,  114- 
115. 

Bellefourche  &  Aladdin  railroad, 
158. 

Bellew,   James,   71. 

Berry,  Henryetta,  review  of  Before 
Barbed  Wire,  by  M.  H.  Brown 
and  W.  R.  Felton,  114-115. 

Bessemer  Bend  road,  72. 

"Big  Nose  George",  See  Parrot, 
"Big  Nose"  George. 

Big  Sandy,  Wyo.,    157. 

Big  Trails,  Wyo.,   159. 

Billington,  Ray  Allen,  The  Far 
Western  Frontier,  1830-1860,  re-, 
viewed  by  T.  A.  Larson,  113-114. 

Birdshead  Cave    (Wyo.)    133. 

Bishop,  Clark,  talks  on  Poison  Spi- 
der road,  72. 

Bishop,  Mrs.  Clark,  72. 

Bishop,  Wyo.,  159. 

Blackfeet  Indians,  See  Indians: 
Tribes,  Blackfeet. 

Blazon,  Wyo.,  158. 

Blue  Creek  Canyon,  56. 

Blue  Creek  Ranch  Company,  56, 
57. 

Boardman,  T.  S.,  190. 

Bonneville,  Capt.  B.  L.  E.,  80,  223. 

Bonnidee,  Wyo.,    159. 

Bordeaux,  Wyo.,   158. 

Boswell,  N.  K.,  33,  36. 

Box  Elder,  Utah  (Brigham  City) 
206. 

Boxelder,  Wyo.,    157. 

Boyack,  Col.  A.  R.,  67,   177. 

Boyack,  Mrs.  A.  R.  (Hazel  Noble) 
gives  account  of  Mormons  at 
Martin  Cove,  179-183;  relates 
story  of  Independence  Rock,  78- 
82;  writes  poem  on  Independence 
Rock,  81-82. 


INDEX 


243 


Boyd,  Eliza  Stewart,  33-37. 

Boyd,  Stephen,  35. 

Braae,  Wyo.,   159. 

Bradley,  Col.  W.  R.,  67,   177. 

Brands   (cattle).  Mill  Iron  Open  9, 

151;  oldest  in  Wyo.,  151,  156. 
Bretney,  Capt.,  74. 
Bridge    fare,     Bear    River,    c.1855, 

153. 
Bridger,  Jim,  125,  154. 
Bridger's  Ferry,  83. 
Brigham    City,    Utah    (Box    Elder) 

206. 
Brock,  Mrs.  A.  L.  (JuHa),  171-176; 

port.    172. 
Brock,  Genie  (Mrs.  T.  W.  Harper) 

173-176. 
Brock,  J.  Elmer,  151,  171. 
Brown,  John,  80. 
Brown,  Mark  H.  and  Felton,  W.  R., 

Before  Barbed  Wire,  reviewed  by 

Henryetta  Berry,    114-115. 
"Brownlow"  (horse)  50. 
Bucknum,  Wyo.,   158. 
Buffalo,  in  Bear  River  valley,    152; 

in  Yellowstone  Park,  illus.,  130. 
Buffalo  Creek  (headquarters,  Hole- 

in-the-Wall  gang)    169,  175. 
Buffalo  Creek  Canyon,  62. 
Bunker,  Edward,   179. 


Cambria  &  Newcastle  railroad,  158. 

Camp  Brown,  Wyo.,  158. 

Camp  Stool,  Wyo.,  157. 

Cantlin,  Jim,  184. 

Cantonment  Reno,  44. 

Careyhurst,  Wyo.,   158. 

Carley,  Maurine,  67,  177;  compiler, 
Oregon  Trail  Trek,  no.  4,  67-85; 
no.  5,  177-194;  gives  talk  on 
Castle  Rock  and  ruts  (near  Split 
Rock)    188-189. 

Carneyville,  Wyo.,  158. 

Carson,  Kit,  225. 

Carter,  W.  A.,  219. 

Caspar,  misspelling  of,  69. 

Cassidy,  Butch,  174;  dugout  of, 
illus.,   160. 

Castle  Gardens,  Wyo.,   131. 

Castle  Rock  (near  Split  Rock)  188- 
189. 

Cattle  brands,  oldest  in  Wyo.,  151, 
156. 

Cattle  industry,  Wyoming:  Powder 
River  country,  41-66;  Uinta  coun- 
ty,   150-156. 


Cattle  ranches,  Wyoming:  Frewen 
Bros.  (Powder  River  Cattle  Co., 
76  brand)  41-44;  Myers  Bros. 
(Uinta  county)  150-156;  Peters  & 
Alson  (Bar  C)  51-55;  Horace 
Plunkett's  (NH)  47-51. 

Cattlemen,  Wyoming,  41-65;  161- 
163;   resentment  against,   63. 

Center,  A.  J.,  letter  from  J.  D.  Doty 
and  General  P.  E.  Connor,  91. 

Chapline,  Ed.,  52. 

Chapman,  L.  B.,  210. 

Chapman,  Roach,  48. 

Circle,  Wyo.,  157. 

Clearmont  &  Buffalo  railroad,  158. 

Coable,  Mr.,  56. 

Cody,  William  F.  (Bill)  drives  stage 
coach,  1865,  192;  pony  express 
rider,  191. 

Coffman,  Hugh,  157. 

Coldspring,  Wyo.,   157. 

Collins.  Caspar  W..  68-69.  73-78, 
216;  letter  to  mother.  Je  16.  1862, 
75;  April  18,  1865,  76-77;  letter 
to  uncle,  Dec.   13,   1864,  75-76. 

Colter,  John,  125;  biography,  103- 
106. 

Condit,  Mrs.  Elwin  W.,  33. 

Condit,  L.  R.  A.,  43. 

Condit,  Thelma  Gatchell,  The  Hole- 
in-the-Wall,  pt.  4,  The  Big  Cow 
Outfits,  41-65;  pt.  5,  sect.  1, 
Outlaws  and  Rustlers,  161-176; 
review  of  Riders  of  Judgment,  by 
F.  Manfred,  237-238;  biography 
of,   120. 

Connolly,  Gallio  C,   159. 

Connor,  General  Patrick  Edward, 
76,  78,  86,  87,  88,  196,  197,  206, 
208;  command  of  District  of  the 
Plains,  1865,  216;  expedition 
against  Sioux,  1865,  216-216;  let- 
ter to  A.  J.  Center,  Oct.  21,  1863, 
91;  letter  to  Lt.  Col.  R.  C.  Drum, 
July  18,  1863,  88-89;  letter  to 
O.  H.  Irish,  Nov.  4,  1864,  205. 

Conrad,  Mr.,  54. 

Cook,  Helen.  The  Old  Church, 
poem,  32. 

Cooley,  D.  N.,  letters  from  F.  H. 
Head,  220-221,  224-227;  letters 
from  O.  H.  Irish,  211-213,  217- 
218,  219. 

Copperton,  Wyo.,    158. 

Coughman,  Joe,  155. 

Coughman  and  Morse,  155. 

Covered  Wagon  Centennial,  1930, 
81. 


244 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


Cowan,    G.    F.,    leader    of    tourists, 

injured  by  Indians,  1877,  143. 
Cowboys  (Wyo.,)  161-167;  illus.  42. 

166,  172;  living  quarters,  Hole-in- 

the-Wall,  illus.    167-168. 
Craig,  A.,   189. 
Crouch,    Kenneth    E.,    Bedford   and 

its  Namesakes,    38-40;    biography 

of,   120. 
Cumberland,  Wyo.,   158. 
Curry,    "Flat-nosed"    George,     174- 

176. 
Custard,   Sergeant    Amos   J.,   69-72, 

74. 
Custard  Wagon  Train,  74. 
Custard's  Hill,  69-72. 


Dakota  Territory,  1861-1869,  by  H. 
R.  Lamar,  reviewed  by  Ellsworth 
Mason,  233-234. 

Daley,  Mrs.  P.  E.,  summarizes  Ore- 
gon Trail  Trek,  no.  5,  194. 

"Daniel  Boon"  Fraker,  See  Fraker, 
Harmon. 

Deal,  Robert,   158. 

Deer  Creek,  70. 

Dennison,  Col.,  72. 

De  Smet,  Father  Pierre  Jean,  68,  80. 

Devil's  Gate,  illus.,   186. 

Devoe,  Mrs.  Bert,  54. 

Devoe,  Charlie,  51. 

Devoe,  Clark,  51. 

Devoe,  George,  51. 

Devoe,  Hank,  51-54. 

Devoe,  Mrs.  Hank  (May)   52-54. 

Diamond,  Wyo.,    158. 

Dietz,  Wyo.,  158. 

Difficulty,  Wyo.,   159. 

Dillon,  Wyo.,   158. 

Dinwoody  pictographs,   137. 

Divide,  Wyo.,   159. 

Dole,  William  P.,  letters  from  J.  D. 
Doty,  86,  87-88,  89.  90-94,  102, 
195,  208-209;  letters  from  O.  H. 
Irish,  195,  197-198,  200-204;  let- 
ter from  J.  P.  Usher,  99. 

Dole,  William  P.,  letter  to  J.  D. 
Doty,  May  17,  1864,  100;  letter 
to  O.  H.  Irish,  Oct.  18,  1864, 
204-205;  Nov.  9,  1864,  205-206; 
Aug.  4,  1865,  210-211;  letter  to 
J.  P.  Usher,  Oct.  31,  1863,  94-95; 
Dec.  30,  1863,  98;  telegram  from 
J.  D.  Doty,  July  6,   1863,  86. 

Dominick,  DeWitt,  President's  mes- 
sage on  John  Colter,  103-106. 


Donaghue,  Jack,  48. 

Doty,  Gov.  James  Duane  (Utah) 
29:  94,  101,  195,  196,  197,  202, 
206,  207,  208,  218;  death,  219; 
(as  Acting  Indian  Agent)  letter 
from  W.  P.  Dole,  100;  letters 
from  Luther  Mann,  Jr.,  90,  101; 
letter   to  A.   J.   Center,    Oct.    21, 

1863,  91;  letter  to  W.  P.  Dole, 
July  18,  1863,  86,  87-88;  August 
30,  1863,  89;  Oct.  21,  1863,  90- 
91;  Oct.  24,  1863,  91-94;  June  23, 

1864,  102;  Sept.  11,  1864,  195; 
Nov.  25,  1864,  208-209;  letter  to 
Luther  Mann,  Jr.,  June  23,  1864, 
102;  letter  to  C.  M.  Mix,  April 
21,  1864,  99;  telegram  to  W.  P. 
Dole,  July  6,  1863,  86;  presents 
1863  report,  91-94. 

Douglas,  Wyo.  (Carbon  county) 
157. 

Drew,  Lt.  Y.,  69-70. 

Driftwood  Jim  (Jim  McCloud)   175. 

Drum,  Lt.  Col.  R.  C,  letter  from 
Gen.  P.  E.  Connor,  88-89. 

"Dry  V"  Slope,  169. 

Dukurika  Indians,  See  Indians: 
Tribes,  Dukurika;  Indians:  Tribes, 
Sheepeaters;  Indians  in  Yellow- 
stone Park. 

Dull  Knife  fight,  59,  61. 

Dumbell,  Wyo.,   157. 

Durbin  Bros.,  ranch  of,  185. 


EK    ranch,    50,    51.    171-176,    illus. 

172;  postoffice,   173-176. 
Eagle  Creek  Canyon,  169. 
Elk  River,   141. 
Ellsworth,   Mr.   (Indian  interpreter) 

198. 
Ellsworth,  Edmund,  179. 
Emigh,  Wyo.,   159. 
Emigrant  Gap,  72. 
Encampment,  Wyo.,   158. 
Ernest,  Boni,  184. 
Ernest,  Frank,  184. 
Esmay,  Gen.  R.  L.,  67,  177. 


Fairfield,  S.  H.,  70. 

The  Far  Western  Frontier,  1830- 
1860,  by  Ray  Allen  Billington, 
reviewed  by  T.  A.  Larson,  113- 
114. 


INDEX 


245 


Fares  for  crossing  bridge,  Bear  Riv- 
er, C.1855,  153. 

Farlow,  Jule,  tells  story  of  Lamor- 
eaux  family,  187-188. 

Felton,  W.  R.  and  Brown,  M.  H., 
Before  Barbed  Wire,  reviewed  by 
Henryetta  Berry,    114-115. 

Ferris,  George,  158. 

Feud  on  the  Colorado,  by  Arthur 
Woodward,  reviewed  by  Albert 
G.  Anderson,  Jr.,  115-116. 

First  woman  jury,  Wyoming,  33-37. 

Fish,  Rachel  Ann,  The  Running 
Iron,  reviewed  by  Alice  M. 
Shields,    119-120. 

Flathead  Pass,   142. 

Flower,  Lem,    190. 

Folsom  culture,   130. 

Fort  Bridger,  154,  158,  217;  Indian 
Agency,  213-217,  See  also  Wash- 
akie and  the  Shoshoni. 

Fort  Casper,  67-68,  158;  ordered 
abandoned,  78.  See  also  Platte 
Bridge  Station. 

Fort  Connor,  44. 

Fort  Fetterman,  158. 

Fort  Hall  Reservation,  Ida.,  created, 
1867,  213. 

"Fort  Houk",  62. 

Fort  Laramie,   158,   181. 

Fort  Mackenzie,  Wyo.,    158. 

Fort  McKinney,  Wyo.,  158. 

Fort  Reno,  44,  158. 

Fort  Russell,    158. 

Fort  Sanders,   158. 

Fort  Union,  Mont.,  141. 

Frackleton,  Dr.  William,  56. 

Fraker,  Augustus,  58,  61. 

Fraker,  George,  58,  61. 

Fraker,  Harmon,  57-62. 

Fraker,  Martin,  61. 

Fraker,  Will,  61. 

Francis  E.  Warren  Air  Force  Base, 
158. 

Frederick,  Wyo.,   158. 

Freighting,  Oregon  Trail,  74. 

Fremont,  John  C.,  80. 

Frewen,  Moreton,  41-44. 

Frewen,  Richard,  41-44. 

Frewen  Bros.,  41-44,  65. 

Frewen  Castle,  43. 

Frewen  Castle  Rock,  65. 

Friend,  John,  74. 

Frink,  Maurice  et  al..  When  Grass 
Was  King,  reviewed  by  Lola  M. 
Homsher,  116-117;  review  of 
Massacre:  The  Tragedy  at  White 
River,  by  Marshall  Sprague,  234- 
235. 


From  Trapper  to  Tourist  in  Jackson 
Hole,  by  Elizabeth  Wied  Hayden. 
reviewed  by  Dr.  Nolie  Mumey, 
237. 

Frontier  Editor,  by  Daniel  W.  Whet- 
stone, reviewed  by  Mrs.  Lois  B. 
Payson,  232-233. 

Funkhauser,  Mr.  (of  Mo.)   155-156. 


Gallio,  Wyo.,   159. 

Garr,  Abel,  181. 

Gebow,  Joseph  A.  (Indian  interpre- 
ter) removed  from  office,   198. 

Geysers  in  Yellowstone,  evil  spirits 
of,  137. 

Glencoe,  Wyo.,  158. 

Gold  Miners,  Sweetwater  Station, 
78. 

Goldsmith,  Wyo..  159. 

Goose  Egg,  Wyo.,   157. 

Goose  Egg  Ranch,  82-85;  house,  72. 

Goss,  WiUiam  M.,   157. 

Gramm,  Wyo.,   159. 

Graves,  Frank,  61. 

Graves  of,  McCorkle  child,  82;  Ross 
Merrill,  82. 

Great  Bannock  Trail,  See  Bannock 
Trail. 

Grimm,  Lt.  Paul,  70-71. 

Grovont,  Wyo.,  origin  of  name,  159. 


Haas,  William  G.  (Bill)  157,  158, 
159. 

Haggarty,  Ed,  158. 

"Hairy-vest"  Jumbo,   165. 

Hall,  Blue,  83. 

Hand  Cart  Company,    179. 

Handcart  brigade  to  Utah  (Mor- 
mons)   1865,  179-183. 

Harris  Boys  (half-breed  cowboys) 
175. 

Hatch,  F.  C.  (Indian  Agent)  94. 

Hatcher,  Mrs.  Amelia,  34. 

Hatcreek,  Wyo.,    157. 

Hathaway,  Bill,  44-45. 

Hayden,  Elizabeth  Wied,  From 
Trapper  to  Tourist  in  Jackson 
Hole,  reviewed  by  Dr.  Nolie 
Mumey,  237. 

Hayden,  Ferdinand  V.,  80. 


246 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


Head,  F.  H.,  letters  from  Luther 
Mann,  Jr.,  219,  220,  221-224; 
letter  to  D.  N.  Cooley,  Aug.  13, 
1866,  220-221;  Sept.  20,  1886, 
224-227;  telegram  from  Luther 
Mann,  Jr.,  June  14,  1866,  220; 
June  18,  1866,  220. 

Hecla,  Wyo..  158. 

Hell's  Half  Acre,  Wyo.,  159. 

Henderson,  Paul,  paper  on  Willow 
Springs,   72-73. 

Hildebrand,  Lyle,  61,   177. 

HiUiard,  Wyo.,    154. 

Hilton,  Mrs.  G.  F.,  34. 

Hole-in-the-Wall,  by  Thelma  Gatch- 
ell  Condit,  pt.  4,  The  Big  Cow 
Outfits,  41-65;  pt.  5,  sect.  1, 
Outlaws  and  Rustlers,   161-176. 

Hole-in-the-Wall,  cabins,  illus.  166; 
map,  64,   176. 

Holladay,  Ben,  190,  205. 

Home  on  the  Range,  Wyo.,  192, 
193. 

Homsher,  Lola,  paper  on  Split  Rock 
Pony  Express  and  Stage  Station, 
185-187;  review  of  When  Grass 
Was  King,  by  Maurice  Frink,  et 
al.,   116-117. 

The  Horsecatcher,  by  Marie  Sandoz, 
reviewed  by  Richard  Mahan,  238- 
240. 

Houk,  Ed,  62. 

Howard,  Gen.,   140,   143,  144. 

Howe,  Chief  Justice,  34,  35. 

Hultkrantz,  Ake,  The  Indians  in 
Yellowstone  Park,  124-149;  biog- 
raphy of,  240. 

Huntington,  Dimick  (Indian  inter- 
preter)   198. 


Ice  Slough,   193. 
Ice  Spring,  192-193. 
lilco,  Wyo.,  158. 

Independence  Rock,  story  related  by 
H.   N.   Boyack,   78-82;  poem  on, 
81-82. 
Indians: 

agencies,    1864-1866,  See   Washa- 
kie and  the  Shoshoni. 
agricultural,    128. 
annuities,  96,    198-200;    1863,  87- 
88,  90,  93;  1864,  200,  208,  211; 
1865,   209-210,   217-218;    1866, 
222-223,  225. 
artifacts,  228-230,  in  Yellowstone 


Park,  129-130;  borers,  229-230; 
cutting,  107-110;  drilling  types, 
229-230;  gravers,  109-110;  per- 
forating, 229-230,  illus.  229- 
230;  plummets  in  Yellowstone 
Park,  132;  points,  107-109; 
saws,  109;  slitters,  109;  tang 
knives,   107-110. 

beads,    132. 

Chiefs  and  individuals: 

Antero,  88;  Aukewahkus,  88; 
Bazil,  86,  96,  210;  Bear  Hunt- 
er, 96;  Bear's  Head,  141;  Black 
Beard,  212,  213,  226;  Black 
Hawk,  88;  Canosh,  See  below 
Kanosh;  Comanche  (Sioux  half- 
breed)  46-47;  Eagle  Breast, 
squaw  of,  53;  Harrynup,  209; 
Joseph,  143;  Kanosh,  88,  225, 
medal    for   221;   Little   Soldier, 

87,  88;  Narkawk,  210;  Neer- 
anga,  210;  Pantoshiga,  210; 
Plenty  Bear,  50;  Pocatello,  86, 

88,  96,  205,  206,  212,  226; 
Sagowitz,  96;  San  Pitch,  88,  96, 
212;  Smiling  Fox  (Bill  Lamor- 
eaux)  188;  Tabby,  88,  225; 
Taboonshea,  210;  Tahgay,  222; 
Togwotee,  135-136;  Toopsa- 
powet,  210;  Tortsaph,  210;  To- 
sokwanberaht,  97;  Tutseybug- 
bets,  225;  Two-Face.  141;  Ute- 
Pete,  88;  Wanapitz,  210;  Wash- 
akie, 88,  89,  96,  100,  139,  152, 
191,  211-213,  character  of, 
211-213,  221,  225,  receives 
medal  from  government,  1865, 
218-219,  221,  222,  wants  pro- 
visions before  blankets,  201, 
See  also  Washakie  and  the  Sho- 
shoni; White  Horse,  squaw  of, 
53;  White  Knife,  97;  Woman 
Dress  (Mrs.  Jules  Lamoreaux) 
188. 

condition  of  1863,  94,  97,  212- 
213;   1864,   198-204. 

depredations,  78,  92-93;  on  Lam- 
oreaux family,  187-188;  Three 
Crossings  Station,  191,  192, 
210-211. 

education,  in  Utah,   1866,  226. 

gifts  to.  See  annuities  above. 

horses  of,  number,  226-227. 

hunters,   127,   130,   134. 

medals,  for  Chief  Kanosh,  221; 
for  Chief  Washakie,  218-219, 
221,  222. 

pictographs,   131;  Dinwoody,  137. 

primitive  gatherers,   127,    131. 


INDEX 


247 


Indians : 

relations  with  government,  196. 
See  also  Washakie  and  the  Sho- 
shoni. 

reservation,  suggested  for  Sho- 
shoni,  198-200,  204-205,  207, 
223-224,  226. 

Treaties,  Treaty  at  Box  Elder, 
Utah,  July  30,  1863  (North- 
western Shoshoni)  94,  98,  99, 
212;  Treaty  at  Fort  Bridger, 
July  2,  1863  (Eastern  band) 
86,  94,  95-96,  98,  99,  217; 
Treaty  at  Ruby  Valley,  Oct.  1, 
1863  (Western  band)  94,  96-97, 
98;  Treaty  at  Soda  Springs, 
Oct.  14,  1863  (Shoshoni  and 
Bannocks)  90,  91,  97,  99,  206, 
211;  Treaty  at  Tuilla  (Tooele) 
Valley,  Oct.  12,  1863  (Shoshoni 
and  Goship)  90-91,  97,  98,  99, 
206;  Treaty  with  Shoshoni  and 
Goship,  Nov.  24,  1864,  209; 
Treaty  with  Shoshoni,  1863,  94, 
196;  Treaty  with  Utahs,  July 
14,  1863,  87-88;  Treaty  with 
Weber  Utes,  July  7,  1863,  87- 
88. 

Tribes,  map,  199;  Arapahoes,  53, 
215;  Assiniboins,  141;  Ban- 
nocks, 97,  137,  140-141,  211, 
213,  215,  222,  in  Yellowstone 
Park,  129,  raids  in  1878,  144; 
Black  feet,  character  of  142,  in 
Yellowstone  Park,  129,  142- 
143;  Cheyennes,  215;  Coman- 
ches,  129;  Crows,  137,  141, 
215,  in  Yellowstone  Park,  129, 
141-142,  steal  Shoshoni  horses, 
100;  Cumumbahs,  97,  211,  213; 
number,  1866,  225;  Dakotas,  in 
Yellowstone  Park,  141  -  142; 
Dukurikas,  129,  134-137,  138, 
139,  140,  141,  142,  145,  146, 
depart  from  Park,  145,  food  of, 
134-135,  origin  of  name,  134, 
religion  of,  135,  shelters  of, 
135,  136,  See  Also  Sheepeaters 
below  and  Indians  in  Yellow- 
stone Park;  Goships,  97,  211, 
213,  number,  1866,  225; 
Hidatsa,  141;  Hopewell,  131- 
132;  Kalispel,  143;  Kiowas, 
129,  in  Yellowstone  Park,  139; 
Kumumbar,  See  Cumumbahs 
above;  Lemhis,  See  Shoshoni 
below;  Loocoorekahs,  See 
Sheepeaters  below;  Nez  Perce, 
126,  attack  tourists  in  Yellow- 


stone, 143-144,  escape  through 
Yellowstone  Park,  1877,  143- 
144,  rebellion,  1877,  144; 
Oglalla,  in  Powder  River  coun- 
try, 141;  Paiiites  (Pah-Edes, 
Pah-Utes,  Pi-Edes)  211,  213, 
number,  1866,  225;  Pah  Vants 
(Pahvontee)  97,  211,  225; 
Plains,  137-139,  in  Yellowstone 
Park,  127,  128;  Plateau,  in  Yel- 
lowstone Park,  143;  Sanpet 
(Sanpitches)  96,  225,  almost 
exterminated.  Bear  River  Bat- 
tle, 93,  96;  Sheepeaters  (Tuku- 
arika,  Dukurika)  96,  101,  102, 
129,  number,  1863,  96,  steal 
horses,  198-200,  See  also  Du- 
kurikas above  and  Indians  in 
Yellowstone  Park;  Shoshoni, 
53,  89,  96,  126,  137,  139-141, 
195-226,  annuities,  200-204, 
211-217,  221-222,  early  immi- 
gration of  133-134,  life  of, 
211-217,  number  of,  1866,  222, 
224,  offer  to  fight  other  tribes, 
1864,  215,  221,  at  Split  Rock 
Station,  185-187,  in  Yellow- 
stone Park,  129;  Shoshoni, 
Eastern  Band,  211-212,  descrip- 
tion of,  225-226,  number,  1864, 
214;  Shoshoni,  Northwestern 
Band,  211,  212-213,  226,  num- 
ber, 1864,  212;  Shoshoni,  West- 
ern Band,  96-97;  "Shoshoni 
Diggers"  See  Shoshoni,  West- 
ern Band  above;  Sioux,  215,  in 
Yellowstone  Park,  141-142, 
wars  in  1875-1877,  144; 
Teton  Dakotas,  141;  Timpaia- 
vats  (Timpanogs)  225;  Tussa- 
wehe  (Tosowitch)  97;  Unkoahs, 
97;  Utahs,  87-88,  92,  211,  213, 
number  in  1866,  225;  Utes, 
195  211,  215,  222;  Weber  Utes, 
87,  213,  number  in  1866,  225. 

wealth  of,  in  horses,  216-211 . 

whiskey  obtained,   198,  200. 
Indians    in     Yellowstone    Park,    by 

Ake  Hultkrantz,   124-149. 
Inyankara,  Wyo.,  158. 
Irish,    O.    H.,    101,    207,    208,    209; 

letters    from    Luther    Mann,    Jr., 

198-200,   213-217;  letter  to  Gen. 

P.  E.  Connor,  Nov.  4,  1864,  205; 

letter  to  D.  N.   Cooley,  Sept.   9, 

1865,  211-213,  Oct.  9,  1865,  217- 
218,  Dec.  15,  1865,  218,  Mr.  2, 

1866,  218,    April    3,    1866,    219; 
letter   to   W.    P.    Dole,    Sept.    26, 


248 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


1864,  195,  Oct.  1,  1864,  197-198, 
Oct.  13,  1864,  200-204,  Oct.  18, 
1864,  204-205,  Nov.  9,  1864,  205- 
206,  Aug.  4,  1865,  210-211. 

Irvine,  Billy,  83. 

Irvine,  Bob,  83. 


Jackson,     Andrew     M.,      184-185; 

ranch  of,   184-185. 
Jackson,  W.  Turrentine,  et  al..  When 

Grass  Was  King,  reviewed  by  L. 

M.  Homsher,  116-117. 
Jackson,  William  H.,  80. 
Jay  Em,  Wyo.,  159. 
Jennings,  William,  189. 
Jireh,  Wyo.,  158. 
Johnson,  Pres.  Andrew,  creates  Fort 

Hall  Reservation,  Ida.,  213;  gives 

medal  to  Chief  Kanosh.  221,  225; 

gives    medal   to   Chief  Washakie, 

218-219,  221,  222. 
Johnson    County    Invasion    (Wyo.) 

1892,  161-162. 
Jones,  Dan,  181. 
Jones,  Griffith,  ranch  of,    171. 


Keith,  A.  M.,  46. 
Kelly  Creek,  171. 
Kemmerer  &  Cumberland  railroad, 

158. 
Kephardt,  J.  W.,  35. 
King,    Col.    Norman    D.,    157;    Old 

Wyoming     Postoffices,      157-159; 

biography  of,  240. 
Kinney,  J.  F.,  202. 
Kinney,  L.  P.,  198. 
Kinport,  David  R.,  157. 
Knight,  Wyo.,    159. 
Kortes  Dam,  Wyo.,  157. 
Kraft,  A.,  189. 
Kraft,  C,  189. 


La  Bonte,  Pierre,  177. 

Labonte,  Wyo.,  159. 

Ladigo  Bill,  175. 

Lamar,  Howard  Roberts,  Dakota 
Territory,  1861-1889,  reviewed  by 
Ellsworth  Mason,  233-234. 

Lamoreaux,  "Bill",  See  Lamoreaux, 
Willow 

Lamoreaux,  George,  188. 


Lamoreaux,  Jules,    187-188. 

Lamoreaux,  Mrs.  Jules  (Woman 
Dress)    187-188. 

Lamoreaux,  Lizzie,   188. 

Lamoreaux,  Phoebe,   188. 

Lamoreaux,  Willow  (Willie)    188. 

Lane,  Jim,  83-84. 

Laramie,   1870,  33-37. 

Larson,  T.  A.,  review  of  Far  West- 
ern Frontier,  1830-1860,  by  Ray 
A.  Billington,  113-114. 

Lauderdale,  P.(?)  V.,  210. 

Lavoye,  Louis,  159. 

Lavoye,  Wyo.,  159. 

Liljeblad,  Astrid,  translates  Indians 
in  Yellowstone  Park,  by  A.  Hult- 
krantz,  124-149;  biography  of, 
125. 

Lincoln,  Pres.  Abraham,  sets  aside 
Uinta  Basin  as  reservation  for 
Utes,   1861,  92. 

Lincoln,  territory  of,  212. 

Lindbergh,  Wyo.,  159. 

Little  Horse  Creek,  Wyo.,  157. 

Lloyd,  Major  Henry,  67,   177. 

Long,  Barney,  51. 

Long,  J.  v.,   151. 

Longhorns  in  Wyoming,  41. 

Lost  Spring,  Wyo.,  157. 

Lost  Springs,  Wyo.,  157. 

Lower  Falls,  Yellowstone  Park, 
illus.  124. 


McArthur,  Daniel,  179. 

McCloud,  Jim  (Driftwood  Jim) 
175. 

McCorkle  child,  grave  of,  82. 

Mackel,  Mrs.  Mary,  34. 

McKinstry,  Bruce,  193. 

McKinstry,   Byron  N.,    193. 

Mahan,  Richard,  review  of  The 
Horsecatcher,  by  Mari  Sandoz, 
238-240. 

Mails,  1864  (Utah  Indian  Agency) 
203. 

Manfred,  Fred,  Riders  of  Judgment, 
reviewed  by  Thelma  G.  Condit. 
237-238. 

Mann,  Luther,  Jr.,  (Shoshoni  agent. 
Fort  Bridger,  1861-1869)  94,  210, 
218,  225;  port.  214;  letter  from 
J.  D.  Doty,  102;  letter  to  J.  D. 
Doty,  Sept.  21,  1863,  90,  June  20, 
1864,  101;  letter  to  F.  H.  Head, 
June  9,  1866,  219,  July  26,  1866, 
220,     Sept.     15,     1866,     221-224; 


INDEX 


249 


letter  to  O.  H.  Irish,  Oct.  5,  1864, 
198-200;  Sept.  28,  1865,  213-217; 
telegram  to  F.  H.  Head,  June  14, 
June    18,    1866,   220;  telegram  to 

0.  H.  Irish,  Aug.  3,  1865,  210. 
Martin,  Edward,  180. 

Martin  Company  (Handcart  Bri- 
gade) 180-183. 

Martin's  Cove  marker,   179. 

Martin's  Cove,  Wyo.,   183. 

Mason,  Ellsworth,  review  of  Dakota 
Territory,  I86J-1889,  by  H.  R. 
Lamar,  233-234. 

Masonic  Lodge,  in  Wyo.,  80. 

Massacre:  The  Tragedy  at  White 
River,  by  Marshall  Sprague,  re- 
viewed by  Maurice  Frink,  234- 
235. 

May,  Mr.,  56. 

Mayoworth,  Wyo.,  171. 

Medicine  Wheel   (Wyo.)    137. 

Men    to  Match   My   Mountains,   by 

1.  Stone,  reviewed  by  Leora  Pe- 
ters,  112. 

Merrill,  Ross,  grave  of,  82. 

Metzler,  Wyo.,  159. 

Middle    Fork,    Powder    River,    See 

Hole-in-the-Wall. 
Midwest,  Wyo.  (Hot  Springs  Coun- 
ty)  157. 
Mill  Iron  Open  9  brand,  151. 
Miller,  Albert  J.,  157. 
Miller,  David,  156. 
Miller  Creek  Springs,  138;  relics  of 

Indian  lodges,   1880,  138. 
Miner's  Delight,  158. 
Mix,  C.  M.,  letter  from  J.  D.  Doty, 

99. 
Monarch,  Wyo.,  158. 
Mondell,  Wyo.,  159. 
Moni,  Dick,  209. 
Morgan,  Dale  L.,  editor,   Washakie 

and  the  Shoshoni,  pt.  VIII,   1863- 

June,   1864,  86-102;  pt.  IX,  Sept. 

1864-1866,      195-226;     biography 

of,  120-121. 
Morgan,  Rachel,  80. 
Morgareidge,  Mrs.,   171. 
Mormon  Ferry,  68,  72. 
Mormon  Handcarts,  1856,  179-183. 
Mormons,  78;  in  1847,  80. 
Morris,  Esther  Hobart,  candidate  on 

new  Woman's  Party,  36. 
Morrison,  John  (Pack  Saddle  Jack) 

56. 

Morrison,  W.  W.,  relates  story  of 
Sergeant  Custard  and  his  men, 
69-72. 


Mountain  sheep,  139;  in  Yellow- 
stone  Park,    134-135. 

Mulloy,  WilHam  T.,  131;  review  of 
Navajo  and  Ute  Peyotism,  by  D. 
F.  Aberle  and  O.  C.  Stewart, 
236-237. 

Mumey,  Dr.  Nolle,  review  of  From 
Trapper  to  Tourist  in  Jackson 
Hole,  by  E.  W.  Hayden,  237. 

Murphy,  Frank,  67,   177. 

Murphy  Creek,  168,  169. 

Myers,  Charles  A.,  Over  My  Shoul- 
der,   150-156;  biography  of,  241. 

Myers,  John  Walker,  biography  of, 
151-152. 

Myers  Bros,  ranch,  Uinta  county, 
illus.,   150. 

Myers  Crossing,  Wyo.,  151. 

Myers  Land  and  Livestock  Com- 
pany, (Wyo.)    155. 


NH  ranch,  43,  50,  51,  65;  illus.  42. 

Names,  Geographical,  Wyoming, 
157-159. 

Navajo  and  Ute  Peyotism,  by  D.  F. 
Aberle  and  O.  C.  Stewart,  re- 
viewed by  W.  T.  Mulloy,  236-237. 

Neble,   Wyo.,    159. 

Nefsy,  Wyo.,   159. 

No  Wood,  Wyo.,  159. 

No  Wood  Creek,  Wyo.,  158. 

Noble,  W.  P.,  187-188. 

Norris,  Philetus  W.,  126,  136,  138, 
144,  145,  146. 

North  and  South  railroad,  158. 

Nye,  Gov.,  93,  94,  97. 


Obsidian,   137,    139;  in  Yellowstone 

Park    132 
Obsidian  Cliff,  illus.   136. 
Oil  springs  (Popo  Agie  Valley)  223. 
The   Old   Church,   poem   by   Helen 

Cook,  32. 
"Old  Tex"  (cowboy)   168. 
Old   Wyoming  Postoffices,   by   Col. 

N.  D.  King,   157-159. 
Oregon    Trail,    military    protection 

required,  74;  ruts  near  Split  Rock, 

188. 
Oregon    Trail    Trek,    compiled    by 

Maurine  Carley,  Trek,  no.  4,  67- 

85,  map,  66;  Trek  no.  5,  \11-\^A, 

map,  176,  members  of,  illus.  178. 


250 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


Outlaws  (Wyoming)    161-176. 
Overland   stage   line,   transferred   to 

southern  route,    190. 
Over  My  Shoulder,  by  C.  A.  Myers, 

150-156. 


"Pack  Saddle  Jack"     See  Morrison, 

John. 
Pacific  Springs,    158. 
Painter,  Wyo.,  157. 
Parco,  Wyo.,  159. 
Parker,  Brown,  56. 
Parrot,  "Big  Nose"  George,  46. 
Paschal,    Mrs.    Marion,    edits    Over 

My   Shoulder,    by   C.    A.    Myers, 

150-156;  biography  of,  241. 
Payson,    Mrs.    Lois    B.,    review    of 

Frontier  Editor,  by  D.  W.  Whet- 
stone, 232-233. 
Pease,  Mrs.  Sarah  W.,  34. 
Pence,   Alfred   M.,   review   of   With 

Crook  at  the  Rosebud,  by  J.  W. 

Vaughn,  111. 
Perpetual   Emigration  Fund,    179. 
Pete  Creek,  179. 
Peters,    Leora,    review    of    Men    to 

Match     My     Mountains,     by     L 

Stone,   112. 
Peters,  T.  W.,  51,  54. 
Peters  and  Alston,  account  book,  54. 
Pictographs,  See  Indian  pictographs; 

Dinwoody  Pictographs. 
Pierce,  Johnny,  49. 
Pierette,  Joe,  154. 
Pierre  Jaune,   125. 
Pitchfork,  Wyo.,   157. 
Platte     Bridge,     68;     Platte     Bridge 

Station,  69,  70,  73,  See  also  Fort 

Casper. 
Pleazel,   Wyo.,    159. 
Plont,  Mr.  (Frenchman)    184. 
Plont  Pony  Express  and  Stage  Sta- 
tion,   184-185. 
Plunkett,  Sir  Horace,  43,  47-51,  57, 

63,  65. 
Poison  Spider  Creek,  72,  83. 
Pony  express.  75. 

Popo  Agie  Valley,  oil  springs,  223. 
Poposia,  Wyo.,  159. 
Portrait  of  an   "Ordinary"   Woman, 

Eliza    Stewart   Boyd,    by    Clarice 

Whittenburg,  33-37. 
Postoffices,   Wyoming,    157-159. 
Powder  River  Cattle  Company,  41- 

44. 


Powder  River  Country,  161;  out- 
laws and  rustlers  in,  161-176;  See 
also  Hole-in-the-Wall. 

Powder  River  Crossing,  171;  stage 
stop,  44-47. 

Powder  River  Expedition,  216. 

Preston,  William  Bowker,  38-39, 
port.  38. 

Prospect  Hill,  73. 

Punteney.  Wyo.,    159. 


Railroads,    Wyoming,    discontinued, 

158. 
Rambler,  Wyo.,   158. 
Red  Buttes  Battle,   1865,  67,  69-72. 
Reed.  William,  191. 
Reshaw  bridge,  68. 
Rex,  Wyo.,   159. 
Rickard,  Harry,  210. 
Ricketts,  W.  P.,  83,  84. 
Rider,  Keith,  67. 
Riders  of  Judgment,  by  F.  Manfred, 

reviewed   by   Thelma   G.   Condit, 

237-238 
Riverside,  Wyo.,  56-57,    158. 
Riverside  (on  Blue  Creek)   171. 
Roberts,    Harold    D.,    Salt    Creek, 

The  Story  of  a  Great  Oil  Field, 

reviewed    by    Bob    Steiling,    117- 

119. 
Roberts,  Harry,  43. 
Robertson,  Jack  (Indian  interpreter) 

210. 
Robinette,    Seminoe,    Stage    station, 

179. 
Roche,  Alexis,  43,  51. 
Roche,  Edmund,  43,  50,  51. 
Roche  Juane,   125. 
Rocky  Ridge  Station,  76. 
Rogers,  Phil,  190. 
Rudefeha,    Wyo.,    origin    of    name, 

158. 
Rumsey,  James,  158. 
The  Running  Iron,  by   R.   A.   Fish, 

reviewed    by    Alice    M.    Shields, 

119-120. 
Russell,  Osborne,  142. 
Russell,  Majors  and  Waddell,  erects 

Split   Rock  Express  Station,    185. 
Rustlers   (Wyoming)    161-176. 


St.  Mary's  Station,  76. 
Salt  Creek,  168. 


INDEX 


251 


Salt  Creek,  The  Story  of  a  Great 
Oil  Field,  by  H.  D.  Roberts,  re- 
viewed by  Bob  Steiling,   117-119. 

Salt  River  Valley,  39. 

Sandoz,  Mari,  The  Horsecatcher, 
reviewed  by  Richard  Mahan,  238- 
240. 

Savage,  Levi,  181. 

Searight  Bros.,  83. 

Seminole,  Mitch,  187. 

Settlers,  Johnson  county,  Wyo.,  161. 

76  brand,  43,  46. 

Sheepeater  Canyon,  136. 

Sheepeater  Cliffs,   136. 

Sheepeaters  (Indians)  See  Indians: 
Tribes,  Sheepeaters;  Indians  : 
Tribes,  Dukurikas;  Indians  in  Yel- 
lowstone Park. 

Sherman,  Gen.,  146. 

Shields,  Alice  M.,  review  of  The 
Running  Iron,  by  R.  A.  Fish, 
119-120. 

Shoshone  Indian  Reservation,  145. 

Shoshoni  Diggers,  97. 

Shoshoni  Indians,  See  Indians : 
Tribes,  Shoshoni. 

Shoshoni  River  ferry,  97. 

Shrader,  Corp.  James  W.,  69-71. 

Slade,  Jack,  184. 

Slide,  Wyo.,    157. 

Smallpox  diminishes  number  of  In- 
dians, 135. 

Smith,  Henry,  71. 

Smith,  John  R.,  ranch  of,  51. 

Smith,  Capt.  Lot,  187. 

South  Pass  City,  158. 

Spanish  Fork  farm,  92. 

Spanish  Fork  Reservation,  Utah, 
92,  94. 

Spaulding,  Mrs.  H.  H.,  68. 

Split  Rock,  illus.  186. 

Split  Rock,  Wyo.,  157. 

Split  Rock  Pony  Express  and  Stage 
Station,  185-187;  site  of,  illus. 
182. 

Sprague,  Marshall,  Massacre:  The 
Tragedy  at  White  River,  reviewed 
by  Maurice  Frink,  I'iA-l'iS. 

Spring,  A.  W.,  et  al..  When  Grass 
Was  King,  reviewed  by  L.  M. 
Homsher,   116-117. 

Steege,    Louis    C,    Stone    Artifacts, 

.  107-110,  228-230;  biography  of, 
121. 

Steiling,  Bob,  review  of  Salt  Creek, 
The  Story  of  a  Great  Oil  Field, 
by  H.  D.  Roberts,  117-119. 

Stewart,  Omer  C,  and  Aberle,  D. 
F.,     Navajo    and     Ute    Peyotism 


reviewed  by  W.  T.  Mulloy,  236- 

237. 
Stone,    Irving,    Men    to   Match   My 

Mountains,  reviewed  by  L.  Peters, 

112. 
Stone    Artifacts,    by    L.    C.    Steege, 

107-110,  228-230. 
Strawberry  Creek,  39. 
Stuart,  Robert,  68. 
Sublette,  Andrew,  189. 
Sublette,  Milton  G.,   189. 
Sublette,  Pinkney  W.,  189. 
Sublette,  Solomon  P.,   189. 
Sublette,  W.  K.,  189. 
Sublette,  William  L.,   189. 
Sublette  brothers,  189. 
Summers,  Edwin,  71. 
Sun,  Tom,    177,    184-185;  ranch  of, 

82,   177. 
Sun,    Mrs.    Tom,    relates    story    of 

Plont    Pony    Express    and    Stage 

Station,    184-185. 
Surgeon,  A.  A.,  210. 
Swain,  Bryan,  71. 
Swan  Land  and  Cattle  co.,  83. 
Sweetwater  River,  79;  crossings  of, 

189,   192. 
Sweetwater  Station,   73-78,   80;   de- 
scription of,   1865,  76;  sketch  of, 

1865,  66. 


TTT  ranch,  56. 

Targhee  Pass,  143. 

Taylor,  Mrs.  Ed,  57. 

Teapot,  Wyo.,  159. 

Telegraph  line,  73,  75. 

Ten  Sleep,  Wyo.,  159. 

Terrell,  Saul,   175. 

Thomas,  D.  L.,   189. 

Thompson,  David,  125. 

Thompson,  Sanford  (Sang)  167, 
175. 

Thorp,  Russell,   151. 

Three  Crossings  Station,  history  of, 
189-192;  illus.  176;  raided  by  In- 
dians, 1862,  190;  post  office,  190. 

Tipperary,  Wyo.,   159. 

Tisdale,  Mr.,  56. 

Togwotee  Pass,  origin  of  name,  135. 

Tooele  (Tuilla)  Valley,  88. 

Trabing's  road  ranch,  54. 

Trenholm,  Virginia  Cole,  speaks  on 
Goose  Egg  ranch,  82-85;  biog- 
raphy of,  121. 

Turkey  Track  Ranch,  185. 


•252 


ANNALS  OF  WYOMING 


Uinta  reservation,  92. 

Uinta  Valley,  suggested  for  reserva- 
tion, 207-208. 

Underwood,  Wyo.,    159. 

Union  Cattle  Company,  43. 

U.  S.  Indian  Affairs,  1864-1866,  See 
Washakie  and  the  Shoshoni. 

Usher,  J.  P.,  letters  from  W.  P. 
Dole,  94-95,  98;  letter  to  William 
P.  Dole.  Mr.  12,  1864,  99. 

Utah  Indian  Agency,  See  Washakie 
and  the  Shoshoni. 

Uva,  Wyo.,  158. 


Vaughn,  J.  W.,  With  Crook  at  the 
Rosebud,  reviewed  by  A.  M. 
Pence,   111. 

Verse,  Wyo.,    159. 

Veteran,  Wyo.,  159. 

Vonnie,  Wyo.,   158. 


Wagon  Train  Fight  of  Sergeant 
Custard,   66-72. 

Walker,  Lt..  70. 

Waltman.  Wyo.,    158. 

Washakie,  Chief,  See  Indians:  Chiefs 
and  individuals. 

Washakie  and  the  Shoshoni,  A  se- 
lection of  Documents  from  the 
Records  of  the  Utah  Superintend- 
ency  of  Indian  Affairs,  edited  by 
Dale  L.  Morgan,  pt.  VIII,  1863- 
June,  1864,  86-102;  pt.  IX,  Sept. 
1864-1866,  195-226. 

Washburn,  General  Henry,  125, 
138,   141. 

Water  right,  oldest  in  Wyo.,  156. 

Waters,  William  Elkanah,  account 
of  the  Shoshoni  tribe  and  Chief 
Washakie,  89. 

Watson,  Beau,  43. 

Webb,  Frances  Seely,   177. 

Welch,  Tom,  46. 

Whellock,  C.  H.,   181. 

When  Grass  Was  King,  by  Maurice 
Frink,  et  al.,  reviewed  by  L.  M. 
Homsher,   116-117. 

Whetstone,  Daniel  W.,  Frontier 
Editor,  reviewed  by  Mfs.  Lois  B. 
Payson,  232-233. 

Whiskey  and  Indians,   198,  200. 


Whitman,   Mrs.   Marcus,   68. 

Whittenburg,  Clarice,  Portrait  of  an 
"Ordinary"  Woman,  Eliza  Stew- 
art Boyd,  33-37;  biography  of, 
121. 

Wilkes,  Mrs.  Frane,  39. 

Wilkins,  Edness  Kimball,  gives  ac- 
count of  Sweetwater  Station,  73- 
78. 

Willie,  James  G.,  180. 

Willie  Company  (Handcart  brigade) 
180-183. 

Willow  Springs,  Wyo.,  72-73. 

Wind  River,  Wyo.,   157. 

Wind  River  country,  description  of, 
1866,  223-224. 

Wister,  Owen,  56,  57;  The  Virginian, 
84-85. 

With  Crook  at  the  Rosebud,  by  J. 
W.  Vaughn,  reviewed  by  A.  M. 
Pence,   111. 

Wolton,  Wyo.,   158. 

Woman  jury,  first  in  Wyoming,  33- 
37. 

Woodruff,  Wilford,  80. 

Woodward,  Arthur,  Feud  on  the 
Colorado,  reviewed  by  A.  G.  An- 
derson, Jr.,    1 15-1 16. 

Wyoming  Archaeological  Notes,  107- 
110,  228-230. 

Wyoming  Library  and  Literary  As- 
sociation  (Laramie)    35. 

Wyoming  State  Historical  Society, 
President's  message,  1957,  by  De- 
Witt  Dominick,  102-106;  Pro- 
gram,  1957  meeting,  230-231. 

Wyoming  territory,  created,  212. 

Wyotah,  Wyo.,  158. 


Yeager,  Walter  H.,  157. 

Yellowstone,  origin  of  name,  125. 

Yellowstone  Lake,  127. 

Yellowstone  National  Park,  animals 
in,  127,  134-135;  artifacts  in, 
129-130;  buffalo  in,  138,  139; 
established,  125;  geysers'  evil 
spirits,  137;  Indian  cultures  in, 
126-149;  obsidian  in,  132,  139; 
steatite  (pipestone)  in,  139;  tem- 
perature in,  127;  travel  across, 
138,   140. 

Young,  Brigham,  179,  180;  influ- 
ence with  Indians,  78;  with  Mor- 
mon Battalion,  187. 

Yuma  culture,  130. 


WYOMING  STATE  ARCHIVES  AND  HISTORICAL 
DEPARTMENT 

The  Wyoming  State  Archives  and  Historical  Department  has  as  its  func- 
tion the  collection  and  preservation  of  the  record  of  the  people  of  Wyoming, 
it  maintains  a  historical  library,  a  museum  and  the  state  archives. 

The  aid  of  the  citizens  of  Wyoming  is  solicited  in  the  carrying  out  of  its 
function.  The  Department  is  anxious  to  secure  and  preserve  records  and 
materials  now  in  private  hands  where  they  cannot  be  long  preserved.  Such 
records  and  materials  include: 

Biographical  materials  of  pioneers:  diaries,  letters,  account  books,  auto- 
biographical accounts. 

Business  records  of  industries  of  the  State:  livestock,  mining,  agriculture, 
railroads,  manufacturers,  merchants,  small  business  establishments,  and  of 
professional  men  as  bankers,  lawyers,  physicians,  dentists,  ministers,  and 
educators. 

Private  records  of  individual  citizens,  such  as  correspondence,  manuscript 
materials  and  scrapbooks. 

Records  of  organizations  active  in  the  religious,  educational,  social, 
economic  and  politcial  life  of  the  State,  including  their  publications  such 
as  yearbooks  and  reports. 

Manuscript  and  printed  articles  on  towns,  counties,  and  any  significant 
topic  dealing  with  the  history  of  the  State. 

Early  newspapers,  maps,  pictures,  pamphlets,  and  books  on  western 
subjects. 

Current  publications  by  individuals  or  organizations  throughout  the 
State. 

Museum  materials  with  historical  significance:  early  equipment,  Indian 
artifacts,  relics  dealing  with  the  activities  of  persons  in  Wyoming  and  with 
special  events  in  the  State's  history.